¹Then Agrippa was saying to Paul, "It is permitted for you to speak for yourself." Then Paul, having stretched out his hand, was presenting a defense:

²"Concerning all of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I have esteemed myself fortunate that today, before you, I am about to present a defense,

³especially as you are acquainted with all the customs of the Jews and also their controversies. Therefore I implore you to hear me patiently.

⁴The manner of my life from my youth, which from its beginning had been among my nation and also in Jerusalem, all the Jews indeed know.

⁵They have known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our own religion I lived as a Pharisee.

⁶And now for the hope of the promise having been made by God to our fathers, I have stood being judged,

⁷to which our twelve tribes, serving in earnestness night and day, hope to attain; concerning which hope I am accused by the Jews, O king Agrippa.

⁸Why is it judged incredible by you, if God raises the dead?

⁹Therefore I myself indeed thought within myself that I needed to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth,

¹⁰which also I did in Jerusalem; and many of the holy ones I myself locked up in prisons, when I had received the authority from the chief priests; and when they were being killed, I cast a vote against them.

¹¹And in all the synagogues, often punishing them, I was compelling them to blaspheme; and being excessively furious against them, I was persecuting them as far as even to the foreign cities.

¹²During which, also journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,

¹³at mid-day on the road I saw, O king, from heaven above the brightness of the sun, a light having shone around me and those journeying with me.

¹⁴And when we all were falling down to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me, and saying in the Hebrew language, "Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads."

¹⁵Then I myself said, "Who are You, Lord?" And the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you yourself are persecuting.

¹⁶But rise up and stand on your feet; for to this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness both of that which you have seen of Me and of the things in which I will appear to you,

¹⁷delivering you out from the people and from the nations, to whom I myself am sending you,

¹⁸to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of the adversary to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by trust which is in Me."

¹⁹So then, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²⁰but to those in Damascus first, and also in Jerusalem and into all the region of Judea, and to the nations, I was declaring to change your heart and to turn to God, doing works worthy of a change of heart.

²¹On account of these things, the Jews, when they had seized me being in the temple, were attempting to kill me.

²²Therefore, having obtained help from God unto this day, I have stood bearing witness both to small and to great, saying no thing other than what both the prophets and Moses said was about to happen:

²³that the Anointed One would suffer, as first through resurrection from the dead, He is about to preach light both to our people and to the nations."

²⁴Now as he is presenting these things in defense, Festus said in a loud voice, "You are insane, Paul! Your great learning turns you to insanity!"

²⁵But Paul said, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of truth and sobriety.

²⁶For the king understands concerning these things, to whom also I speak using boldness; for I am not persuaded that any of these things is hidden from him, no thing; for this is not done in a corner.

²⁷Do you trust the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you trust."

²⁸Then Agrippa was saying to Paul, "Within so little time you seek to persuade me to become a Christian!"

²⁹And Paul said, "But I would wish to God, both in a little and in much, that not only you but also all those hearing me this day might become such as I also am, except for these chains."

³⁰And when he was speaking these things, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and those sitting with them;

³¹and when they had withdrawn, they were speaking to one another, saying that this man is doing no thing worthy of death or of chains.

³²Then Agrippa was saying to Festus, "This man could have been released, if he had not appealed to Caesar."