Acts 26:1-16 ▼

1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak in your defense.” So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense:

2 “I am fortunate, King Agrippa, that you are the one hearing my defense today against all these accusations made by the Jewish leaders,

3 for I know you are an expert on all Jewish customs and controversies. Now please listen to me patiently!

4 “As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem.

5 If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion.

6 Now I am on trial because of my hope in the fulfillment of God’s promise made to our ancestors.

7 In fact, that is why the twelve tribes of Israel zealously worship God night and day, and they share the same hope I have. Yet, Your Majesty, they accuse me for having this hope!

8 Why does it seem incredible to any of you that God can raise the dead?

9 “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.

10 Indeed, I did just that in Jerusalem. Authorized by the leading priests, I caused many believers there to be sent to prison. And I cast my vote against them when they were condemned to death.

11 Many times I had them punished in the synagogues to get them to curse Jesus. I was so violently opposed to them that I even chased them down in foreign cities.

12 “One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.

13 About noon, Your Majesty, as I was on the road, a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.

14 We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is useless for you to fight against my will.’

15 “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.

16 Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future.