MODERN LITERAL VERSION

26:1 And Agrippa said to Paul, It is permitted for you to speak on behalf of yourself. Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense.
26:2 Concerning all of which I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa, I deem myself fortunate today, being about to make my defense before you;
26:3 especially because you are an expert of all customs and debates which are in regard to the Jews. Hence I beseech of you to hear me patiently.
26:4 Then* my lifestyle indeed which happened from my youth up, from the beginning in my own nation and in Jerusalem, all the Jews know this.
26:5 If they are willing to testify, (knowing me beforehand, from the start), that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.
26:6 And now I stand here being judged against the hope of the promise that came* by God to our fathers;
26:7 to which our twelve tribes, intensely giving-divine service to God night and day, are hoping to achieve the promise. And I am accused by the Jews concerning this hope, O king!
26:8 Why is it judged as unbelievable with you*, if God is raising the dead?
26:9 I indeed thought with myself that I ought to do many things adverse to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.
26:10 I also did this in Jerusalem and I locked up many of the holy-ones in prisons, having received authority from the high-priests and when they were assassinated I voted against them.
26:11 And punishing them often in all the synagogues, I urged them to blaspheme, and being mad even-more with them, I persecuted them insofar as possible even to the cities outside our nation.
{Examples of those who were saved in the New Testament: Acts 2:14-42; 8:5-13; 8:30-39; 9:17-18, 22:6-16, 26:12-18; 10:34-48; 16:13-15; 16:25-34; 18:8; 19:1-7.}

26:12 In which I also went to Damascus with the authority and commission from the high-priests.
26:13 On the road in the middle of the day, O king, I saw a light from heaven beyond the brilliance of the sun shining around me and those who went with me.
26:14 And when we had all fallen down to the earth, I heard a voice and saying to me in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the cattle-prods.

26:15 And I said, Who are you, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
26:16 But rise* up and stand upon your feet; for* to this end I have appeared to you, to assign you to be an attendant and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will make appear to you.
26:17 I am liberating you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,
26:18 to open their eyes, that they may return from darkness to light and from the authority of the Adversary to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a portion among those who are sanctified in faith, that is in me.

26:19 Hence, O King Agrippa, I did not become disobedient to the heavenly vision.
26:20 But I was proclaiming first to them in Damascus and in Jerusalem and then to all the country of Judea and to the Gentiles, to repent and to turn to God, practicing works worthy of repentance.
26:21 Because of these things, the Jews took me in the temple and attempted to slay me.
26:22 Therefore, having obtained the assistance that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to the little and to the great, saying nothing outside of what the prophets and Moses said was about to happen.
26:23 If the Christ is to suffer, if he is first from the resurrection of the dead, then he is about to proclaim light to the people and to the Gentiles.

26:24 And he made his defense with these things.
Festus says with a loud voice, Paul, you are mad; your much scholarship is turning you mad.

26:25 But Paul says, I am not mad, most-excellent Festus, but I speak out the words of truth and self-discipline.
26:26 For* the king knows concerning these things, to whom I also speak boldly; for* I have confidence that not any of these things is eluding him; for* this has not been done in a corner.
26:27 King Agrippa, Do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.

26:28 And Agrippa said to Paul, Are you persuading me to become a Christian in a little while?

26:29 And Paul said, I pray to God, that both in a little while or in much time, not only you, but also all who hear me today, are to become such; the sort of person I am, except-for these bonds.

26:30 And after Paul spoke these things, the king stood up and the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them;
26:31 and when they had departed, they spoke to one another, saying, This man is practicing nothing worthy of death or bonds.

26:32 And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been released, if he had not appealed to Caesar.
{Aug. 21 - Nov. 1, 61 AD. Mediterranean Sea. The voyage to Rome.}