Acts 26:1-12 ▼

1 Agrippa said to Paul, |You're free to speak for yourself.| Paul acknowledged King Agrippa and then began his defense.

2 |King Agrippa, I think I'm fortunate today to stand in front of you and defend myself against every charge that the Jews brought against me.

3 I say this since you are especially familiar with every custom and controversy in Judaism. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.

4 |All the Jews know how I lived the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem.

5 They've known me for a long time and can testify, if they're willing, that I followed the strictest party of our religion. They know that I lived my life as a Pharisee.

6 |I'm on trial now because I expect God to keep the promise that he made to our ancestors.

7 Our twelve tribes expect this promise to be kept as they worship with intense devotion day and night. Your Majesty, the Jews are making accusations against me because I expect God to keep his promise.

8 Why do all of you refuse to believe that God can bring dead people back to life?

9 |I used to think that I had to do a lot of things to oppose the one named Jesus of Nazareth.

10 That is what I did in Jerusalem. By the authority I received from the chief priests, I locked many Christians in prison. I voted to have them killed every time a vote was taken.

11 I even went to each synagogue, punished believers, and forced them to curse [the name of Jesus]. In my furious rage against them, I hunted them down in cities outside [Jerusalem].

12 |I was carrying out these activities when I went to the city of Damascus. I had the power and authority of the chief priests.