Paul speaks to King Agrippa
1King Agrippa said to Paul: ‘You may speak now and say what you want to tell us.’
Then Paul put up his hand and he started to say why he was innocent. He said: 2‘King Agrippa, the Jews accuse me and say I did many things that are wrong, but I am glad that I can tell you today why I am innocent. 3I am glad that you know what the Jews believe and the things we argue about. So I ask you to be patient and listen to what I say.
4All the Jews know how I have lived from the time when I was a child with my own people in Jerusalem. 5They have known me for a long time. If they want to, they can tell you that I am speaking the truth when I say that I was a Pharisee and that I have lived like Pharisees who obey the laws of Moses more carefully than any other group. 6And now I stand before you so that you can judge me because I believe and know that God will do what He has promised our forefathers.
7Our 12 tribes of Israel keep on serving God because we know and hope that God will do what He has promised. Yes, King Agrippa, the Jews accuse me because I know and hope that God will do what He has promised. 8Why don't you believe that God can make dead people live again?
9There was a time when I thought I must fight against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10In Jerusalem I made a lot of people who belonged to God suffer. I arrested a lot of those people and I put them in jail. The chief_priests told me to do it. I also said it was right when they killed the believers who belonged to Jesus. 11I punished them in the synagogues many times and I tried to make them stop believing or tried to make them say bad things against God. I was so angry with them that I even went to towns in other lands, far away from Jerusalem.
12That is why I went to the city of Damascus. The chief_priests gave me a letter to arrest the believers. 13It was about noon and I was on the road to the city of Damascus. O king, then I saw a light that started to shine from the sky. The light was very bright, brighter than the sun. The light shone on me and on all the people who were with me. 14We all fell to the ground and then I heard Someone talking. He talked to me in Hebrew and He said: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? You are hurting yourself if you do not listen to Me.”
15I said: “Who are You, Lord?” And the Lord said to me: “I am Jesus. You are persecuting Me. 16Stand up. I came to you and I have appeared to you because I chose you. I want you to work for Me. You must serve Me and tell other people what you have seen today. You must also tell people about the things that I will show you later.
17I will protect you from your own people and from the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles. 18They do not believe in Me. They are like blind people but I will use you to open their eyes. They must turn to God and live as He wants. Then they will be like people who came from the dark to the light. Yes, they must turn away from the power of Satan and they must come back to God. Then God will forgive their sin and they will belong to God's people because they believe in Me.” ’
19Then Paul said: ‘King Agrippa, I have obeyed everything that God has shown me from heaven. 20I first went to preach to the people in Damascus and then to the people in Jerusalem, and then I preached to the people in the province of Judea. Then I went to the Gentiles and I told them to turn to God and start to live as He wants.
21This is why the Jews grabbed me in the temple and why they tried to kill me. 22But God has helped me to this day. So I stand here and I tell everyone about God. I tell it to people who are very important and also to people who are not important. I say only the things that are written in the books of the prophets and in the laws of Moses. I talk about the things that they said would happen. 23It is written that the Christ will suffer and that He will be the first Person who has died but has risen and lives again to save the Jews and the Gentiles. They were like people in the dark, but they came to the light.’
24When Paul was speaking to show that he was innocent, Festus shouted_loudly and said: ‘Paul, you are mad. You have learned too many things and you are confused.’
25But Paul said: ‘Dear Festus, I am not mad. I speak the truth like a wise man. 26I am not afraid to talk to King Agrippa because I know and I am sure that he knows about these things that I say. These things happened where everyone could see them. 27King Agrippa, do you believe what the prophets have said? I know that you believe them.’
28Agrippa asked Paul: ‘Do you think you can make me become a Christian so quickly? No, you can not.’
29Paul answered: ‘I pray and ask God that He will make you, and also all these people who listen to me today, believers as I am. God can do this quickly or He can take a long time to do this. It does not_matter. Yes, I want you to be like me but not as a prisoner.’
30Then the king got up, with governor Festus and Bernice and the people who were sitting with them. 31When they went out of the big room, they said to each other: ‘This man is innocent. It will be wrong to punish him or to kill him. He must not be in jail.’
32Then Agrippa told Festus: ‘This man said that Caesar must judge him. If he had not said that, then he would be free and out of jail today.’
