Tuesday in Easter

Text not available in the Berean Standard Bible.

1Verse 1. Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense: 2Verse 2. “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today to defend myself against all the accusations of the Jews, 3Verse 3. especially since you are acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. I beg you, therefore, to listen to me patiently. 4Verse 4. Surely all the Jews know how I have lived from my earliest childhood among my own people, and also in Jerusalem. 5Verse 5. They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion. 6Verse 6. And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise that God made to our fathers, 7Verse 7. the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. It is because of this hope, O king, that I am accused by the Jews. 8Verse 8. Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? 9Verse 9. So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10Verse 10. And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. 11Verse 11. I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. 12Verse 12. In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13Verse 13. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. 14Verse 14. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ 15Verse 15. ‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. 16Verse 16. ‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you. 17Verse 17. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18Verse 18. 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 sanctified by faith in Me.’