1Agrippa told Paul, “You may now speak for yourself.”
Paul stretched out his hand and said:
2King Agrippa, I am glad for this chance to defend myself before you today on all these charges that my own people have brought against me.
3You know a lot about our religious customs and the beliefs that divide us. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.
4-5All the Jews have known me since I was a child. They know what kind of life I have lived in my own country and in Jerusalem. And if they were willing, they could tell you that I was a Pharisee, a member of a group that is stricter than any other.
21That is why some men grabbed me in the temple and tried to kill me.
22But all this time God has helped me, and I have preached both to the rich and to the poor. I have told them only what the prophets and Moses said would happen.
23I told them how the Messiah would suffer and be the first to be raised from death, so that he could bring light to his own people and to the Gentiles.
24Before Paul finished defending himself, Festus shouted, “Paul, you're mad! Too much learning has driven you out of your mind.”
25But Paul replied, “Honourable Festus, I am not mad. What I am saying is true, and it makes sense.
26None of these things happened off in a corner somewhere. I am sure that King Agrippa knows what I am talking about. That's why I can speak so plainly to him.”
27Then Paul said to Agrippa, “Do you believe what the prophets said? I know you do.”
28Agrippa asked Paul, “In such a short time do you think you can talk me into being a Christian?”
29Paul answered, “Whether it takes a short time or a long time, I wish you and everyone else who hears me today would become just like me! Except, of course, for these chains.”
30Then King Agrippa, Governor Festus, Bernice, and everyone who was with them got up.
31But before they left, they said, “This man isn't guilty of anything. He doesn't deserve to die or to be put in jail.”
32Agrippa told Festus, “Paul could have been set free, if he had not asked to be tried by the Roman Emperor.”
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