Acts 26 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
About AD 59, shortly before Paul is shipped to Rome
Location
The audience hall of the governor's palace in Caesarea Maritima
Audience
Theophilus and Greek-speaking readers, along with anyone weighing whether this movement was politically dangerous
Situation
Paul makes his defence before King Agrippa the Second, his sister Bernice and Festus, telling the story of his life as a Pharisee, his encounter on the Damascus road and his commission to the non-Jewish world. Festus calls him mad, Agrippa deflects, and the hearing ends with both men agreeing Paul had done nothing deserving death.
Key Background
This is a hearing to draft a covering report for the emperor, not a trial, since the appeal had already removed the case from local hands, so Paul is effectively addressing the record that will follow him to Rome. Agrippa and Bernice enter with ceremonial display, and Bernice, his sister, was the subject of gossip in Rome and later became the lover of the future emperor Titus. Paul's speech follows the shape of a Greek defence oration and reads like the ancient accounts of a philosopher's conversion, a form his educated hearers would have recognised at once.
said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and began his
"King Agrippa, I consider myself that I get to make my defense before you today against everything the Jewish leaders are accusing me of,
especially because you're an expert in all the Jewish and controversies. So I ask you to listen to me patiently.
"All the Jewish people know how I've lived my life from the beginning, from my youth in my own nation and in Jerusalem.
They've known me for a long time and can testify — if they're willing — that I lived as a the strictest of our religion.
And now I'm standing trial because of my hope in the God made to our ancestors —
the very promise our are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. And it's because of this hope, King Agrippa, that I'm being accused by the Jewish leaders.
Why do any of you consider it unbelievable that God the
"I used to be convinced that I needed to do everything in my power to oppose the of Jesus from Nazareth.
And that's exactly what I did in Jerusalem. I locked up many of in prison after getting authorization from the and when they were being sentenced to death, I cast my vote against them.
I punished them often in every and tried to force them to I was so furiously obsessed with them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
"While I was on one of these missions — heading to with the authority and commission of the chief priests —
in the middle of the day, King Agrippa, I saw a from the brighter than the sun, blazing around me and everyone traveling with me.
We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice speaking to me in 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's only hurting you to
I asked, 'Who are you, And the said, 'I am Jesus — the one you're persecuting.
Now get up and stand on your feet. I've appeared to you for a reason — to appoint you as my and You'll tell people about what you've seen today and what I'll show you in the future.
I will rescue you from your own and from the I'm sending you to.
I'm sending you to open their eyes so they can turn from darkness to light, and from the power of the to so that they can receive forgiveness for their and a place among has own, through me.'
"So, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the from the
Instead, I started telling people — first those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and all throughout Judea, and then to non-Jewish people — that they should turn to God, and it by how they
This is why the Jewish leaders grabbed me in the and tried to kill me.
But God has helped me to this very day, and so I stand here testifying to both ordinary and powerful people alike. I'm not saying anything different from what the and said would happen —
that The would suffer, and that by being the first to from the he would announce to both our people and to non-Jewish people."
At this point in Paul's defense, shouted, "You're out of your mind, Paul! All your studying has driven you crazy!"
"I'm not crazy, most Festus," Paul replied. "What I'm saying is true and makes perfect sense.
The king knows about these things, and I can speak freely to him. I'm convinced that none of this has escaped his attention, because it in some
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do."
Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think you can make me a of this quickly?"
Paul said, "Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but everyone listening today would become like me — except for these
Then the king stood up, and with him the governor and and everyone sitting with them.
As they left, they talked it over and agreed: "This man hasn't done anything that deserves death or imprisonment."
Agrippa told Festus, "This man could have been set free if he hadn't to