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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Acts 26 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/acts/26.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/acts/26-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Acts 26</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../acts/25.htm" title="Acts 25">◄</a> Acts 26 <a href="../acts/27.htm" title="Acts 27">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Paul's Defense before Agrippa</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_1"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.1" class="v44_26_1">1</span>Agrippa told Paul, “You may now speak for yourself.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_1">Paul stretched out his hand and said:</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_2"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.2" class="v44_26_2">2</span>King Agrippa, I am glad for this chance to defend myself before you today on all these charges my own people have brought against me. </span><span class="v44_26_3"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.3" class="v44_26_3">3</span>You know a lot about our religious customs and the beliefs that divide us. So I ask you to listen patiently to me.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_4"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.4-Acts.26.5" class="v44_26_4">4-5</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.26.4-Acts.26.5!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> All 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 I was a Pharisee, a member of a group that is stricter than any other. </span><span class="v44_26_6"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.6" class="v44_26_6">6</span>Now I am on trial because I believe the promise God made to our people long ago.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_7"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.7" class="v44_26_7">7</span>Day and night our twelve tribes have earnestly served God, waiting for his promised blessings. King Agrippa, because of this hope, some of our leaders have brought charges against me. </span><span class="v44_26_8"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.8" class="v44_26_8">8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.26.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Why should any of you doubt that God raises the dead to life?</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_9"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.9" class="v44_26_9">9</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.26.9!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> I once thought that I should do everything I could to oppose Jesus from Nazareth. </span><span class="v44_26_10"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.10" class="v44_26_10">10</span>I did this first in Jerusalem, and with the authority of the chief priests I put many of God's people in jail. I even voted for them to be killed. </span><span class="v44_26_11"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.11" class="v44_26_11">11</span>I often had them punished in our synagogues, and I tried to make them give up their faith. In fact, I was so angry with them, that I went looking for them in foreign cities.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_12"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.12" class="v44_26_12">12</span>King Agrippa, one day I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and permission of the chief priests. </span><span class="v44_26_13"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.13" class="v44_26_13">13</span>About noon I saw a light brighter than the sun. It flashed from heaven on me and on everyone traveling with me. </span><span class="v44_26_14"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.14" class="v44_26_14">14</span>We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice say to me in Aramaic,<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.26.14!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> “Saul, Saul, why are you so cruel to me? It's foolish to fight against me!”</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_15"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.15" class="v44_26_15">15</span>“Who are you?” I asked.</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_15">Then the Lord answered, “I am Jesus! I am the one you are so cruel to. </span><span class="v44_26_16"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.16" class="v44_26_16">16</span>Now stand up. I have appeared to you, because I have chosen you to be my servant. You are to tell others what you have learned about me and what I will show you later.”</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_17"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.17" class="v44_26_17">17</span>The Lord also said, “I will protect you from the Jews and from the Gentiles that I am sending you to. </span><span class="v44_26_18"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.18" class="v44_26_18">18</span>I want you to open their eyes, so they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then their sins will be forgiven, and by faith in me they will become part of God's holy people.”</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_19"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.19" class="v44_26_19">19</span>King Agrippa, I obeyed this vision from heaven. </span><span class="v44_26_20"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.20" class="v44_26_20">20</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.26.20!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> First I preached to the people in Damascus, and then I went to Jerusalem and all over Judea. Finally, I went to the Gentiles and said, “Stop sinning and turn to God! Then prove what you have done by the way you live.”</span></p><p class="pi"><span class="v44_26_21"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.21" class="v44_26_21">21</span>That is why some men grabbed me in the temple and tried to kill me. </span><span class="v44_26_22"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.22" class="v44_26_22">22</span>But 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. </span><span class="v44_26_23"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.23" class="v44_26_23">23</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.26.23!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> I told them how the Messiah would suffer and be the first to be raised from death, so he could bring light to his own people and to the Gentiles.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_24"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.24" class="v44_26_24">24</span>Before Paul finished defending himself, Festus shouted, “Paul, you're crazy! Too much learning has driven you out of your mind.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_25"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.25" class="v44_26_25">25</span>But Paul replied, “Honorable Festus, I am not crazy. What I am saying is true, and it makes sense. </span><span class="v44_26_26"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.26" class="v44_26_26">26</span>None 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.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_27"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.27" class="v44_26_27">27</span>Then Paul said to Agrippa, “Do you believe what the prophets said? I know you do.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_28"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.28" class="v44_26_28">28</span>Agrippa asked Paul, “In such a short time do you think you can talk me into being a Christian?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_29"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.29" class="v44_26_29">29</span>Paul 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.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_30"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.30" class="v44_26_30">30</span>Then King Agrippa, Governor Festus, Bernice, and everyone who was with them got up. </span><span class="v44_26_31"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.31" class="v44_26_31">31</span>But before they left, they said, “This man isn't guilty of anything. He doesn't deserve to die or to be put in jail.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_26_32"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.26.32" class="v44_26_32">32</span>Agrippa told Festus, “Paul could have been set free, if he had not asked to be tried by the Roman Emperor.”</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">26.14 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Aramaic: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “Hebrew.” Aramaic is a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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