a paraphrased study
1 - Then King Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for your defense.” So Paul motioned with his hand and began, 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the leaders of my nation. 3 And especially so because you are well acquainted with our customs and controversies. Therefore, I ask you to hear me patiently. 4 The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my native land, and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. 6 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I’m on trial today. 7 This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as we earnestly serve God day and night.
King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these here are accusing me. 8 Why should any consider it incredible that God raises the dead? 9 I too was convinced that I should do all in my power to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did, first 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. 11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to punish and avenge, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them, I even hunted them down in foreign cities. 12 And on one such journey I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 And at 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 travel companions. 14 We all fell to the ground. And I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic (Hebrew dialect, not Greek which brought with it its myths) ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads [kentron - sharp points].’
15 Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he answered. 16 ‘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. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so they may receive forgiveness of sins [hamartia - missing the mark] and have an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’”
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