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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?ⓘ 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.
[24]AND as Paulos was thus making defence, Festos cried with a high voice, Thou art mad, Paulos; much learningⓘ hath made thee mad!
[25]Paulos said to him, I am not mad, victorious Festos, but words of truth and righteousness I speak.
[26]And king Agripos also, especially, knoweth concerning these things; and therefore speak I with openness before him; because not one of these things I think have been hidden from him; for they were not done in secrecy.
[27]Believest thou, king Agripos, the prophets? I know that thou believest.
[28]King Agripos said to him, [Within] a little thou persuadest me to become a Christian.
[29]And Paulos said, I would from Aloha that in little and in much, not only thou, but also all who hear me to-day, were as I am, except these bonds.
[30]And the king arose, and the governor, and Bernike, and those who sat with them:
[31]And when they were removed thence they spake one with another, and said, Nothing that is worthy of death or of bonds hath this man done.
[32]And Agripos said to Festos, This man could have been dismissed, if he had not called the appeal of Caesar.
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