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Acts 26

Paul's Defense before Agrippa

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 aAgrippa said to Paul, "You are permitted to speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and proceeded to make his defense:

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"In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today;

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 1especially because you are an expert in all  acustoms and  2questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

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"So then, all Jews know  amy manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem;

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since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a  aPharisee  baccording to the strictest  csect of our religion.

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"And now I am  1standing trial  afor the hope of  bthe promise made by God to our fathers;

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the promise  ato which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this  bhope, O King, I am being  caccused by Jews.

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"Why is it considered incredible among you people  aif God does raise the dead?

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"So then,  aI thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to  bthe name of Jesus of Nazareth.

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"And this is  1just what I  adid in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the  2saints in prisons, having  breceived authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I  ccast my vote against them.

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"And  aas I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being  bfuriously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them  ceven to  1foreign cities.

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1While so engaged  aas I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,

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at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven,  1brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.

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"And when we had  aall fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the  1 bHebrew dialect, `Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?  2It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

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"And I said, `Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, `I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

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`But get up and  astand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to  bappoint you a  cminister and  da witness not only to the things which you have  1seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;

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 arescuing you  bfrom the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

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to  aopen their eyes so that they may turn from  bdarkness to light and from the dominion of  cSatan to God, that they may receive  dforgiveness of sins and an  einheritance among those who have been sanctified by  ffaith in Me.'

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"So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,

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but kept declaring both  ato those of Damascus first, and also  bat Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even  cto the Gentiles, that they should  drepent and turn to God, performing deeds  eappropriate to repentance.

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"For this reason some Jews  aseized me in the temple and tried  bto put me to death.

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"So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day  atestifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what  bthe Prophets and Moses said was going to take place;

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 1 athat  2the Christ was  3to suffer, and  1that  bby reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim  clight both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles."

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While Paul was saying this in his defense, Festus *said in a loud voice, "Paul, you are out of your mind!  1Your great  alearning is  2driving you mad."

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But Paul *said, "I am not out of my mind,  amost excellent Festus, but I utter words  1of sober truth.

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"For the king  1 aknows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a  2corner.

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"King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you  1do."

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Agrippa replied to Paul, " 1In a short time you  2will persuade me to  3become a  aChristian."

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And Paul said,1I would wish to God, that whether  2in a short or long time, not only you, but also all who hear me this day, might become such as I am, except for these  achains."

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 aThe king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,

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and when they had gone aside, they began talking to one another, saying, " aThis man is not doing anything worthy of death or  1imprisonment."

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And Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been  aset free if he had not  bappealed to Caesar."



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:20 2007)

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