I am very happy to talk to you, because you know so much about all the Jewish customs and the things the Jews argue about. Please listen to me patiently.
These Jews have known me for a long time. If they want to, they can tell you that I was a good Pharisee. And the Pharisees obey the laws of the Jewish religion more carefully than any other group.
This is the promise that all the twelve tribes of our people hope to receive. For this hope the Jews serve God day and night. My king, the Jews have accused me because I hope for this same promise.
And that's what I did, beginning in Jerusalem. The leading priests gave me the authority to put many of God's people in jail. And when they were being killed, I agreed that it was a good thing.
I visited all the synagogues and punished them, trying to make them curse Jesus. My anger against these people was so strong that I went to other cities to find them and punish them.
We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice talking to me in Aramaic. The voice said, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself by fighting me.'
Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant. You will tell people about me—what you have seen today and what I will show you. This is why I have come to you.
You will make them able to understand the truth. They will turn away from darkness to the light. They will turn away from the power of Satan, and they will turn to God. Then their sins can be forgiven, and they can be given a place among God's people—those who have been made holy by believing in me.'"
I began telling people to change their hearts and lives and turn back to God. And I told them to do what would show that they had really changed. I went first to people in Damascus. Then I went to Jerusalem and to every part of Judea and told the people there. I also went to the non-Jewish people.
But God helped me, and he is still helping me today. With God's help I am standing here today and telling all people what I have seen. But I am saying nothing new. I am saying only what Moses and the prophets said would happen.
They said that the Christ would die and be the first to rise from death. They said that he would bring the light of God's saving truth to the Jewish people and to the non-Jewish people."
King Agrippa knows about all this, and I can speak freely to him. I know that he has heard about these things, because they happened where everyone could see them.
Paul said, "It is not important if it is easy or if it is hard. I pray to God that not only you but that everyone listening to me today could be saved and be just like me— except for these chains I have!"