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¹ Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "You may speak for yourself." Then Sha'ul stretched out his hand, and made his defense. ² "I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning all the things whereof I am accused by the Yehudim, ³ especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Yehudim. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. ⁴ "Indeed, all the Yehudim know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Yerushalayim; ⁵ having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Parush. ⁶ Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷ which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Yehudim, King Agrippa! ⁸ Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead? ⁹ "I myself most assuredly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Yeshua of Natzeret. ¹⁰ This I also did in Yerushalayim. I both shut up many of the holy ones in prisons, having received authority from the chief Kohanim, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them. ¹¹ Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹² "Whereupon as I journeyed to Dammesek with the authority and commission from the chief Kohanim, ¹³ at noon, O King, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me. ¹⁴ When we had all fallen to the eretz, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, 'Sha'ul, Sha'ul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' ¹⁵ "I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' "He said, 'I am Yeshua, whom you persecute. ¹⁶ But arise, and stand on your feet, for to this end have I appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you; ¹⁷ delivering you from the people, and from the Goyim, to whom I send you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Hasatan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' ¹⁹ "Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but declared first to them of Dammesek, at Yerushalayim, and throughout all the country of Yehudah, and also to the Goyim, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. ²¹ For this reason the Yehudim seized me in the temple, and tried to kill me. ²² Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moshe did say should come, ²³ how the Messiah must suffer, and how he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim light both to these people and to the Goyim."

²⁴ As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Sha'ul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!" ²⁵ But he said, "I am not crazy, most excellent Festus, but boldly declare words of truth and reasonableness. ²⁶ For the king knows of these things, to whom also I speak freely. For I am persuaded that none of these things is hidden from him, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe." ²⁸ Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "With a little persuasion are you trying to make me a Messianic?" ²⁹ Sha'ul said, "I pray to God, that whether with little or with much, not only you, but also all that hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these bonds." ³⁰ The king rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them. ³¹ When they had withdrawn, they spoke one to another, saying, "This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds." ³² Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."