Acts 26:1-14 ▼

1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews,

3 especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently.

4 Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from my earliest childhood among my own people, and also in Jerusalem.

5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.

6 And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers,

7 the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews.

8 Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

9 So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

11 I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.

12 In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.

14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’