1 ¶ Then Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak on your behalf. So Paul stretched out his hand, and began to make his defense:

2 I consider myself fortunate, king Agrippa, that I am going to make a defense before you concerning everything that I am accused of by the Jews:

3 Especially knowing that you are an expert regarding all customs and questions among the Jews: therefore I ask you to listen patiently.

4 Now my manner of life from youth up, which was spent from the beginning at Jerusalem, among my own nation, is known to all the Jews;

5 Who knew me from the first, and they can testify, that I lived according to the strictest sect of our religion, as a Pharisee.

6 And now I am standing trial because of the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers:

7 The promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. Concerning which hope, king Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

8 Why should any of you think it incredible, that God should raise the dead?

9 I too was convinced, that I ought to do many things that were hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem: I shut many of the saints up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were being condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

11 And I frequently punished them in every synagogue, and forced them to blaspheme; and being greatly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

12 ¶ As I was going to Damascus, for that purpose, with authority and a commission from the chief priests,

13 At midday along the road, O king, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.

14 And when we all fell to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? it is hard for you to kick against the pricks.

15 And I said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

16 Now get up, and stand on your feet: for I have appeared to you for this reason, to make you a minister and a witness not only to the things that you have seen, but also to the things that I will let you see;

17 I will deliver you from your people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I now send you,

18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among those who are sanctified through faith in me.

19 And so, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision:

20 But proceeded to preach first to those of Damascus, Jerusalem, and the whole region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and live lives consistent with repentance.

21 That is why the Jews seized me in the temple, and tried to kill me.

22 Having therefore obtained help from God, I continue to this day, testifying both to small and great, saying nothing other than those things that Moses and the prophets said would happen:

23 That Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would announce light to the people, and to the Gentiles.

24 ¶ But as he said these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind; too much learning is causing you to rave.

25 But he said, I am not crazy, most noble Festus; but soberly speak words of truth.

26 For the king knows of these things, and I speak to him freely: for I am convinced that none of these things have escaped his notice; for this thing was not done in a corner.

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

28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, You almost persuade me to be a Christian.

29 And Paul said, I would to God, that not only you, but also all who hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether as I am, except for these bonds.

30 And when he had said this, the king got up, as did the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them:

31 And when they had withdrawn, they talked among themselves, saying, This man has not done anything worthy of death or imprisonment.

32 Then Agrippa said to Festus, This man could have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to Caesar.