¹Agrippa said to Paul, “You may now speak for yourself.”

So Paul, gesturing with his hands, began to present his case.

²“King Agrippa,” he said, “I’m glad I can stand before you today to answer all the charges the Jews are making against me.

³I know you’re very familiar with their customs and the kinds of things they argue about. Please listen to me patiently.

⁴“The Jewish people all know how I’ve lived ever since I was a child, both when I was growing up in my own country and after I moved to Jerusalem.

⁵They’ve known me for a long time, and they could tell you, if they wanted to, that I’ve lived by the rules of the Pharisees. Their rules are harder to obey than those of any other Jewish group.

⁶Today I’m on trial because of my hope in what God promised our people long ago.

⁷Because our 12 tribes are hoping to see that promise come true, they serve God with faithful and honest hearts day and night. But it’s because I have the same hope, King Agrippa, that these Jews are bringing charges against me.

⁸Why should any of you think it’s impossible for God to raise the dead?

⁹“I used to think I should do everything I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰That’s just what I was doing in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests, I put many of the Lord’s people in prison. When they were brought to trial, I cast my vote to have them killed.

¹¹I often went from one synagogue to another to find them and punish them. I even tried to force them to speak against Jesus. I wanted so badly to hurt them that I even made trips to foreign cities to look for them.

¹²“On one of those trips I was going to Damascus with letters from the chief priests saying I could act for them.

¹³Around noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the way there, I saw a light coming from heaven. It was brighter than the sun, and it shone all around me and the people with me.

¹⁴We fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you attacking me? You’re only hurting yourself when you resist me.’

¹⁵“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I’m Jesus,’ the Lord replied, ‘the one you’ve been attacking.

¹⁶Now get up and stand on your feet. I’ve appeared to you to appoint you to serve me and tell other people about me. You must tell others what I’ve shown you today and what I’ll show you in the future.

¹⁷I will save you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I’m sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. I want them to have their sins forgiven and find a place among God’s people by believing in me.’

¹⁹“So then, King Agrippa, I didn’t disobey this vision from heaven.

²⁰I preached first to the people in Damascus, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles. I told them to give up their sins and turn to God and to show they’d done this by the way they lived.

²¹That’s why some Jews seized me in the temple courtyard and tried to kill me.

²²But God has helped me right up until this very moment. So I’m standing here and speaking about him to everyone, whether they’re kings or just ordinary people. I’ve been saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses said would happen.

²³They said the Messiah would suffer but then be the first to rise from the dead, and that he would bring the message of light to the Jews and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s speech. “You’re out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is making you crazy!”

²⁵“I’m not crazy, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable.

²⁶The king is familiar with these things, so I can speak freely to him. I’m sure he knows everything that has been going on. After all, it wasn’t done in a corner.

²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”

²⁸Agrippa answered Paul, “Do you think you can convince me to become a Christian in such a short time?”

²⁹“Whether it takes a short time or a long time,” Paul replied, “I pray to God that you and everyone listening to me today may become like me—except for these chains!”

³⁰The king stood up, and so the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them stood up too.

³¹They left the room and began to talk with one another. “This man doesn’t need to die or be put in prison,” they said. “He hasn’t done anything to deserve that!”

³²Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he hadn’t appealed to Caesar.”