Acts 26:1-18 ▼

1 Then Agrippa sayde vnto Paul, thou art permitted to speake for thy selfe. Then Paul stretched foorth the hande, and aunswered for hym selfe

2 I thynke my selfe happy, king Agrippa, because I shall aunswere this day before thee, of all the thynges whereof I am accused of the Iewes:

3 Namely, because thou art expert in all customes and questions, whiche are among the Iewes: Wherefore I beseche thee to heare me patiently.

4 My lyfe, that I haue led of a chylde, which was at the first among myne owne nation at Hierusalem, knowe all the Iewes,

5 Which knewe me from the beginning, (yf they woulde testifie) that after the most straytest sect of our religion, I lyued a pharisee.

6 And nowe I stande and am iudged, for the hope of the promise made of God vnto our fathers:

7 Unto which promise, our twelue tribes instantly seruyng God day & nyght, hope to come. For which hopes sake, kyng Agrippa, I am accused of the Iewes.

8 Why shoulde it be thought a thyng incredible vnto you, that God shoulde rayse agayne the dead?

9 I also veryly thought in my selfe that I ought to do many contrary thynges, cleane agaynst the name of Iesus of Nazareth:

10 Which thyng I also dyd in Hierusalem. And many of the Saintes dyd I shut vp in pryson, hauyng receaued aucthoritie of the hye priestes: And when they were put to death, I gaue the sentence.

11 And I punished them oft in euery synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme: and was yet more mad vpon them, and persecuted them, euen vnto straunge cities.

12 About which thynges, as I went to Damascus, with auctoritie and commission of the hye priestes:

13 Euen at mydday, O kyng, I sawe in the way, a lyght from heauen, aboue the bryghtnesse of the Sunne, shyne rounde about me and them which iourneyed with me.

14 And when we were all fallen to the earth, I hearde a voyce speakyng vnto me, and saying in the Hebrewe tongue: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is harde for thee to kicke agaynste the prickes.

15 And I sayde: Who art thou Lorde? And he sayde: I am Iesus whom thou persecutest.

16 But ryse and stande vpon thy feete. For I haue appeared vnto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witnesse, both of those thynges which thou hast seene, and of those thynges in the which I wyll appeare vnto thee,

17 Delyueryng thee from the people, and from the gentiles, vnto whom nowe I sende thee,

18 To open their eyes, that they may be turned from darknesse to lyght, & from the power of Satan vnto God, that they may receaue forgeuenes of sinnes, & inheritaunce among them which are sanctified by fayth that is towarde me.