Acts 26:2-11

WPNT(i) 2 “I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, in that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning the things of which I am accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are expert in all the Jewish customs and issues; therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. 4 Really, the Jews all know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation in Jerusalem, 5 since they have known me for a long time, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand here being judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 to which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. It is because of this hope that I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa. 8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? 9 “However, I myself thought that I had to perpetrate many things in opposition to the name of Jesus the Natsorean; 10 I actually did this in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. 11 Yes, I punished them often in every synagogue, trying to force them to blaspheme; I was so excessively enraged against them that I persecuted them even to foreign cities.