Study Desk

who ought to have been present before you and to have been bringing charges, if they should have anything against me.

"Therefore," he said, "have the influential men among you go there with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, have them bring charges against him."

But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, replied to Paul and said, "Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?"

"If, therefore, I am in the wrong and have committed something deserving death, I am not trying to avoid execution; but if there is nothing to the accusations which these men are bringing against me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar."

And Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.

"For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate the charges against him as well."

especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.

since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.

at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who were journeying with me.

"And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

'But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a servant and a witness not only to the things in which you have seen Me, but also to the things in which I will appear to you,

to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'

"For these reasons some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to murder me.

Agrippa replied to Paul, "In a short time you are going to persuade me to make a Christian of myself."

And Paul said, "I would wish to God that even in a short or long time not only you, but also all who hear me this day would become such as I myself am, except for these chains."

"For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me,

"And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there were no grounds for putting me to death.

But sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.

and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me;

for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it, killed me.