Acts 26:1-11

English Standard Version

Paul's Defense Before Agrippa

26 So ^(A)Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

²“I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am going to make my defense today ^(B)against all the accusations of the Jews, ³especially because you are familiar with all the ^(C)customs and ^(D)controversies of the Jews. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴^(E)“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among ^(F)my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. ⁵They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that ^(G)according to the strictest ^(H)party of our ^(I)religion I have lived as ^(J)a Pharisee. ⁶And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in ^(K)the promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷^(L)to which ^(M)our twelve tribes hope to ^(N)attain, as they earnestly worship night and day. And for this hope ^(O)I am accused by Jews, O king! ⁸Why is it thought ^(P)incredible by any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹^(Q)“I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of ^(R)Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰^(S)And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority ^(T)from the chief priests, but ^(U)when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. ¹¹And ^(V)I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them ^(W)blaspheme, and ^(X)in raging fury against them I ^(Y)persecuted them even to foreign cities.

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Proverbs 27:9-16

English Standard Version

⁹^(A)Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
    and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.^[a]
¹⁰Do not forsake your friend and ^(B)your father's friend,
    and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity.
^(C)Better is a neighbor who is near
    than a brother who is far away.
¹¹^(D)Be wise, ^(E)my son, and ^(F)make my heart glad,
    that I may ^(G)answer him who reproaches me.
¹²^(H)The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
    but ^(I)the simple go on and suffer for it.
¹³^(J)Take a man's garment when he has put up security for a stranger,
    and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for an adulteress.^[b]
¹⁴Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice,
    rising early in the morning,
    will be counted as cursing.
¹⁵^(K)A continual dripping on a rainy day
    and a quarrelsome wife are alike;
¹⁶to restrain her is to restrain the wind
    or to grasp^[c] oil in one's right hand.

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Footnotes

Proverbs 27:9 Or and so does the sweetness of a friend that comes from his earnest counsel
Proverbs 27:13 Hebrew a foreign woman; a slight emendation yields (compare Vulgate; see also 20:16) foreigners
Proverbs 27:16 Hebrew to meet with