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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://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 NIV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></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="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NIV</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"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New International Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/niv/esv/acts/26.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”</p><p class="reg">So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>“On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, <span class="nivfootnote"><sup><a href="#footnotes" title="Or Hebrew">a</a></sup></span> <span class="red">‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’</span></p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’</p><p class="reg">“ <span class="red">‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’</span> the Lord replied. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span><span class="red">‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span><span class="red">I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span><span class="red">to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’</span></p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>At this point Festus interrupted Paul’s defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>“I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>After they left the room, they began saying to one another, “This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.”</p> <p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/acts/26-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”</p><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><A name="footnotes"></a><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="nivfootnotesbot">a</span> <span class="fnverse">14</span> <span class="footnotebot">Or <i>Hebrew</i></span><br><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><p class="ntext"><a href="http://niv.scripturetext.com/version.htm">New International Version</a> (NIV)</p><p class="ntext2">Holy Bible, New International Version&reg, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by <a href="http://biblica.com">Biblica, Inc.</a>® Used by permission. 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