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¹ And Agripos said to Paulos, It is permitted thee to speak for thyself. Then Paulos stretched forth his hand and made defence, and said,² Of all that I am accused by the Jihudoyee, king Agripos, I consider myself happy, that before you I (have to) make defence.³ Especially because I know that you are conversant with all questions and laws of the Jihudoyee; therefore, I pray you with patient mind to hear me.⁴ For the Jihudoyee themselves-if they would testify-know my manners from my youth, which were mine from the beginning among my people at Urishlem;⁵ because they of a long time were assured of me, and they know that in the high doctrine of the Pharishee I lived.⁶ And now, concerning the hope of the promise that was made to our fathers by Aloha, stand I, and am judged.⁷ And for this hope (to which) our twelve tribes, with diligent prayers by day and night, are expecting to come, for this very hope am I accused by the Jihudoyee, king Agripos!⁸ What judge you; ought we not to believe that Aloha will raise the dead ?⁹ For I, at the first, proposed in my mind to do many things against the name of Jeshu Natsroya.¹⁰ This I also did in Urishlem. And many holy ones I cast into the house of the bound, by the authority which I had received from the great priests; and when they were killed by them, I participated with those who condemned them.¹¹ And in every synagogue I was furious against them, while I constrained them to blaspheme the name of Jeshu; and, being filled with great wrath against them, I went forth unto other cities also to persecute them.

¹² And while going on this account to Darmsuk, with authority and permission from the great priests,¹³ at the dividing of the day, in the way, I saw from heaven, O king, shining upon me and upon all who were with me, a light which (was) more excellent than the sun.¹⁴ And we fell all of us upon the earth; and I heard a voice that said to me in Hebrew, Shaol, Shaol, why persecutest thou me ? [fn] It is hard to thee to kick against the pricks ! ¹⁵ And I said, Who art thou, my Lord ? And he said, I am Jeshu Natsroya, whom thou persecutest.¹⁶ And he said to me, Stand upon thy feet, because for this I have appeared to thee, to appoint thee a minister and witness of that (for) which thou hast seen me, and (for) which thou shalt see me.¹⁷ And I will deliver thee from the people of the Jihudoyee, and from the other nations to whom I send thee,¹⁸ to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto Aloha, and receive the forgiveness of sins, and a lot with the saints through faith, which (is) in me.¹⁹ Wherefore, king Agripos, I withstood not with perversity the heavenly vision,²⁰ but preached, at first to them who were in Darmsuk, and to them who were at Urishlem, and in all the districts of Jihud, and also to the Gentiles have I preached, that they should repent, and turn to Aloha, and do works worthy of repentance.²¹ And for these things the Jihudoyee seized me in the temple, and would have killed me;²² but Aloha hath helped me until this day; and, behold, I stand and testify to the small and to the great, yet nothing beyond Musha and the prophets do I speak, but those things which they said should come to pass;²³ that the Meshiha should suffer, and should be the chief of the resurrection from the house of the dead, and should preach light to the people and to the nations.

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