(Acts 9:1–19; Acts 22:1–21)
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And Agrippa said to Paul, “It is permitted to you to speak for yourself”; then Paul having stretched forth the hand, was making a defense:
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“Concerning all things of which I am accused by Jews, King Agrippa, I have thought myself blessed, being about to make a defense before you today,
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especially knowing you to be acquainted with all things—both customs and questions—among Jews; for this reason, I implore you to hear me patiently.
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The manner of my life then, indeed, from youth—which from the beginning was among my nation, in Jerusalem—all the Jews know,
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knowing me before from the first (if they may be willing to testify), that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;
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and now for the hope of the promise made to the fathers by God, I have stood judged,
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to which our twelve tribes, intently serving night and day, hope to come, concerning which hope I am accused, King Agrippa, by the Jews;
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why is it judged incredible with you if God raises the dead?
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I indeed, therefore, thought with myself that it was necessary [for me] to do many things against the Name of Jesus of Nazareth,
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which I also did in Jerusalem, and I shut up many of the holy ones in prison, having received the authority from the chief priests; they also being put to death, I gave my vote against them,
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and in every synagogue, often punishing them, I was constraining [them] to speak evil, being also exceedingly mad against them, I was also persecuting [them] even to strange cities.
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In which things, also, going on to Damascus—with authority and commission from the chief priests—
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at midday, I saw in the way, O king, out of Heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining around me a light—and those going on with me;
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and we all having fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking to me, and saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? [It is] hard for you to kick against goads!
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And I said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus whom you persecute;
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but rise, and stand on your feet, for this I appeared to you, to appoint you an officer and a witness both of the things you saw, and of the things [in which] I will appear to you,
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delivering you from the people, and the nations, to whom I now send you,
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to open their eyes, to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the authority of Satan to God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified by faith that [is] toward Me.
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After which, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
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but to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem, also to all the region of Judea, and to the nations, I was preaching to convert, and to turn back to God, doing works worthy of conversion;
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because of these things the Jews—having caught me in the temple—were endeavoring to kill [me].
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Having obtained, therefore, help from God, until this day, I have stood witnessing both to small and to great, saying nothing besides the things that both the prophets and Moses spoke of as about to come,
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that the Christ is to suffer, whether first by a resurrection from the dead, He is about to proclaim light to the people and to the nations.”
Festus Interrupts Paul’s Defense
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And he thus making a defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “You are mad, Paul; much learning turns you mad!”
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And he says, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but of truth and soberness I speak forth the sayings;
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for the king knows concerning these things, before whom I also speak boldly, for none of these things, I am persuaded, are hidden from him; for this thing has not been done in a corner;
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do you believe, King Agrippa, the prophets? I have known that you believe!”
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And Agrippa said to Paul, “In [so] little you persuade me to become a Christian?”
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And Paul said, “I would have wished to God, both in a little, and in much, not only you, but also all those hearing me today, to become such as I also am—except these bonds.”
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And he having spoken these things, the king rose up, and the governor, Bernice also, and those sitting with them,
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and having withdrawn, they were speaking to one another, saying, “This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds”;
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and Agrippa said to Festus, “This man might have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”
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