Acts 26:1

Tyndale New Testament

Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: thou arte permitted to speake for thy selfe. Then Paul stretched forth the honde and answered for him selfe.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
Agrippa said to Paul, "You may now speak to defend yourself." Paul raised his hand to get their attention and began to speak.

Revised Standard Version
Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

Hebrew Names Version
Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "You may speak for yourself." Then Sha'ul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

International Standard Version
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.

New American Standard Bible
Now Agrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." Then Paul extended his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

New Century Version
Agrippa said to Paul, "You may now speak to defend yourself." Then Paul raised his hand and began to speak.

Update Bible Version
And Agrippa said to Paul, You are permitted to speak for yourself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defense:

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Agrippa said to Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:

English Standard Version
So Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense:

World English Bible
Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Then Agrippa said to Paul, It is permitted thee to speak for thyself.

Weymouth's New Testament
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak about yourself." So Paul, with outstretched arm, proceeded to make his defence.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Agrippa seide to Poul, It is suffrid to thee, to speke for thi silf. Thanne Poul helde forth the hoond, and bigan to yelde resoun.

English Revised Version
And Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defence:

Berean Standard Bible
Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:

Contemporary English Version
Agrippa told Paul, "You may now speak for yourself." Paul stretched out his hand and said:

Amplified Bible
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You are [now] permitted to speak on your own behalf." At that, Paul stretched out his hand [as an orator] and made his defense [as follows]:

American Standard Version
And Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and made his defence:

Bible in Basic English
And Agrippa said to Paul, You may put your cause before us. Then Paul, stretching out his hand, made his answer, saying:

Complete Jewish Bible
Agrippa said to Sha'ul, "You have permission to speak on your own behalf." Then Sha'ul motioned with his hand and began his defense:

Darby Translation
And Agrippa said to Paul, It is permitted thee to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretching out his hand answered in his defence:

Etheridge Translation
And Agripos said to Paulos, It is permitted thee to speak for thyself. Then Paulos stretched forth his hand and made defence, and said,

Murdock Translation
And Agrippa said to Paul: Thou art permitted to speak in thy own behalf. Then Paul extended his hand, and made defence, saying:

King James Version (1611)
Then Agrippa said vnto Paul, Thou art permitted to speake for thy selfe. Then Paul stretched foorth the hand, and answered for himselfe,

New Living Translation
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak in your defense." So Paul, gesturing with his hand, started his defense:

New Life Bible
Agrippa said to Paul, "You may now speak for yourself." Paul lifted his hand and started to talk,

New Revised Standard
Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself:

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then Agrippa sayd vnto Paul, Thou art permitted to speake for thy selfe. So Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himselfe.

George Lamsa Translation
THEN A-grip''pa said to Paul, You have permission to speak in your own behalf. Then Paul stretched forth his hand, and answered, saying,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, Agrippa, to Paul, said - It is permitted thee, on thine own behalf, to be speaking. Then Paul, stretching forth his hand, went on to make his defence.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Then Agrippa said to Paul: Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul, stretching forth his hand, began to make his answer.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then Agrippa sayde vnto Paul, thou art permitted to speake for thy selfe. Then Paul stretched foorth the hande, and aunswered [for hym selfe]

Good News Translation
Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak on your own behalf." Paul stretched out his hand and defended himself as follows:

Christian Standard Bible®
Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

King James Version
Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand, and answered for himself:

Lexham English Bible
So Agrippa said to Paul, "It is permitted for you to speak for yourself." Then Paul extended his hand and began to defend himself:

Literal Translation
And Agrippa said to Paul, It is allowed for you yourself to speak. Then Paul made a defense, stretching out the hand:

Young's Literal Translation
And Agrippa said unto Paul, `It is permitted to thee to speak for thyself;' then Paul having stretched forth the hand, was making a defence:

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou hast leue to speake for thy selfe.The Paul stretched forth the hande, and answered for himselfe:

Mace New Testament (1729)
Then Agrippa said to Paul, you are at liberty to make your defence. upon which Paul disengaging his hand from his cloak, thus made his plea.

THE MESSAGE
Agrippa spoke directly to Paul: "Go ahead—tell us about yourself." Paul took the stand and told his story. "I can't think of anyone, King Agrippa, before whom I'd rather be answering all these Jewish accusations than you, knowing how well you are acquainted with Jewish ways and all our family quarrels.

New English Translation
So Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." Then Paul held out his hand and began his defense:

New King James Version
Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself:

Simplified Cowboy Version
Agrippa turned to Paul and said, "Tell me your side of the story, cowboy. Tell it plain and true."Paul began his story,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Agrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

Legacy Standard Bible
Now Agrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." Then Paul, stretching out his hand, began to make his defense:

Contextual Overview

¹ Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: thou arte permitted to speake for thy selfe. Then Paul stretched forth the honde and answered for him selfe. ² I thynke my selfe happy kynge Agrippa because I shall answere this daye before the of all the thinges wherof I am accused of ye Iewes ³ namely because thou arte experte in all customes and questions which are amonge the Iewes. Wherfore I beseche the to heare me paciently. ⁴ My lyvynge of a chylde which was at the fyrst amoge myne awne nacion at Ierusalem knowe all the Iewes ⁵ which knew me from ye beginnynge yf they wolde testifie it. For after the most straytest secte of oure laye lyved I a pharisaye. ⁶ And now I stond and am iudged for the hope of the promes made of God vnto oure fathers: ⁷ vnto which promes oure .xii. tribes instantly servynge God daye and nyght hope to come. For which hopes sake kynge Agrippa am I accused of the Iewes. ⁸ Why shuld it be thought a thinge vncredible vnto you that god shuld rayse agayne the deed? ⁹ I also verely thought in my selfe that I ought to do many cotrary thinges clene agaynst the name of Iesus of Nazareth: ¹⁰ which thinge I also dyd in Ierusalem. Where many of the sainctes I shut vp in preson and had receaved auctorite of ye hye prestes. And whe they were put to deeth I gave the sentence.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thou: Acts 25:16, Proverbs 18:13, Proverbs 18:17, John 7:51

stretched: Proverbs 1:24, Ezekiel 16:27, Romans 10:21

answered: Acts 26:2, Acts 22:1

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 14:12 - Say on Psalms 119:46 - speak Luke 12:12 - General Acts 9:15 - and kings Acts 17:19 - May Acts 18:14 - when Acts 19:33 - his Acts 24:10 - had Acts 25:13 - king Romans 1:1 - Paul Philippians 1:17 - that

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Agrippa said unto Paul,.... After Festus had made the above speech to him, and to all present, and had introduced the affair of Paul, who now stood before them:

thou art permitted to speak for thyself; which a prisoner might not do, until he had leave; and this leave was granted by Festus the Roman governor, who was properly the judge, and not Agrippa, though the permission might be by both; and so the Arabic and Ethiopic versions read, "we have ordered", or "permitted thee", c.

Then Paul stretched forth the hand as orators used to do, when they were about to speak; or else to require silence; or it may be to show the freedom of his mind, and how ready he was to embrace the opportunity of pleading his own cause; being conscious to himself of his innocence, and relying on the ingenuity and integrity of his judge; and especially of the king, before whom he stood:

and answered for himself; or made an apology, or spoke in vindication of himself, in order to remove the charges brought against him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then Paul stretched forth the hand - See the notes on Acts 21:40. This was the usual posture of orators or public speakers. The ancient statues are commonly made in this way, with the right hand extended. The dress of the ancients favored this. The long and loose robe, or outer garment, was fastened usually with a hook or clasp on the right shoulder, and thus left the arm at full liberty.

And answered for himself - It cannot be supposed that Paul expected that his defense would be attended with a release from confinement, for he had himself appealed to the Roman emperor, Acts 25:11. His design in speaking before Agrippa was, doubtless:

1. To vindicate his character, and obtain Agrippa’s attestation to his innocence, that thus he might allay the anger of the Jews;
2. To obtain a correct representation of the case to the emperor, as Festus had desired this in order that Agrippa might enable him to make a fair statement of the case Acts 25:26-27; and,
3. To defend his own conversion, and the truth of Christianity, and to preach the gospel in the hearing of Agrippa and his attendants, with a hope that their minds might be impressed by the truth, and that they might be converted to God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXVI.

Paul answers for himself before Agrippa, to whom he pays a true

compliment, in order to secure a favourable hearing, 1-3;

gives an account of his education from his youth up, 4, 5;

shows that the Jews persecuted him for his maintaining the

hope of the resurrection, 6-8;

states his persecution of the Christians, 9-11;

gives an account of his miraculous conversion, 12-16;

and of his call to the ministry, 16-18.

His obedience to that call, and his success in preaching the

doctrine of Christ crucified, 19-23.

While he is thus speaking, Festus interrupts him, and declares

him to be mad through his abundant learning, 24;

which charge he modestly refutes with inimitable address, and

appeals to King Agrippa for the truth and correctness of his

speech, 25-27.

On which, Agrippa confesses himself almost converted to

Christianity, 28.

Paul's affectionate and elegant address to him on this

declaration, 29.

The council breaks up, and they all pronounce him innocent,

30-32.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXVI.

Verse Acts 26:1. Then Paul stretched forth the hand — This act, as we have already seen on Acts 21:40, was merely to gain attention; it was no rhetorical flourish, nor designed for one. From knowing, partly by descriptions, and partly by ancient statues, how orators and others who address a concourse of people stood, we can easily conceive the attitude of St. Paul. When the right hand was stretched out, the left remained under the cloak, which being thrown off the right shoulder, to give the arm the fuller liberty, it then rested on the left: under these circumstances, the hand could be stretched out gracefully, but was confined to no one attitude, though the third and fourth fingers were generally clenched.