Acts 26:1-11

New American Standard Bible

Paul’s Defense before Agrippa

26 ^(A)Now Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul extended his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

² “Regarding all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today, ^3 [a]especially because you are an expert in all ^(B)customs and ^[b]questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “So then, all Jews know ^(C)my way of life since my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and in Jerusalem, ⁵ since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a ^(D)Pharisee ^(E)according to the strictest ^(F)sect of our religion. ⁶ And now I am standing trial ^(G)for the hope of ^(H)the promise made by God to our fathers; ⁷ the promise ^(I)to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. For this ^(J)hope, O king, I am being ^(K)accused by Jews. ⁸ Why is it considered incredible among you people ^(L)if God raises the dead?

⁹ “So ^(M)I thought to myself that I had to act in strong opposition to ^(N)the name of Jesus ^[c]of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And this is ^[d]just what I ^(O)did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the ^[e]saints in prisons, after ^(P)receiving authority from the chief priests, but I also ^(Q)cast my vote against them when they were being put to death. ¹¹ And ^(R)as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was ^(S)extremely enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ^(T)even to ^[f]foreign cities.