Then Agrippa said to Festus, “I also would like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he said, “you shall hear him.”
So, on the next day when Agrippa came together with Bernice amid great pomp, and entered the auditorium accompanied by the commanders and the prominent men of the city, at the command of Festus, Paul was brought in.
Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you gentlemen here present with us, you see this man about whom all the people of the Jews appealed to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly declaring that he ought not to live any longer.
But I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death; and since he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.
Yet I have nothing definite about him to write to my lord. Therefore I have brought him before you all and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the investigation has taken place, I may have something to write.
For it seems absurd to me in sending a prisoner, not to indicate also the charges against him.”
“In regard to all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that I am about to make my defense before you today;
especially because you are an expert in all customs and questions among the Jews; therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.
“So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem;
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.
And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers;
the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.
Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?
“So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
“While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all 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.’
And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;
rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,
to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
“So, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision,
but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.
For this reason some Jews seized me in the temple and tried to put me to death.
So, having obtained help from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place;
that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.
King Agrippa, do you believe the Prophets? I know that you do.”
The king stood up and the governor and Bernice, and those who were sitting with them,
When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.
And embarking in an Adramyttian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica.
The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care.
From there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary.
When we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia.
There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it.
When we had sailed slowly for a good many days, and with difficulty had arrived off Cnidus, since the wind did not permit us to go farther, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone;
and with difficulty sailing past it we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea.
When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them,
and said to them, “Men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.”
But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul.
Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering, the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there, if somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
But before very long there rushed down from the land a violent wind, called Euraquilo;
and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along.
Running under the shelter of a small island called Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control.
After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship; and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Syrtis, they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along.
The next day as we were being violently storm-tossed, they began to jettison the cargo;
and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.
Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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