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Chapter 26
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Verse 1

Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou hast leue to speake for thy selfe.The Paul stretched forth the hande, and answered for himselfe:

Verse 2

I thinke my selfe happye (O kynge Agrippa) because I shal answere this daye before the, of all the thinges wherof I am accused of the Iewes:

Verse 3

specially for so moch as thou art experte in all customes and questions, which are amonge the Iewes. Wherfore I beseche the, to heare me paciently.

Verse 4

My lyuynge truly from youth vp (how it was led from the begynnynge amonge this people at Ierusale) knowe all the Iewes

Verse 5

which knewe me afore at the first, yf they wolde testifye, for after the most strayte secte of oure Iewysh lawe, I lyued a Pharise.

Verse 6

And now stonde I, and am iudged because of the hope of the promes, that was made of God vnto oure fathers,

Verse 7

vnto the which (promes) oure twolue trybes hope to come, seruynge God instatly daye and nighte. For the which hopes sake (O kynge Agrippa) I am accused of the Iewes.

Verse 8

Wherfore is this iudged amonge you not to be beleued, that God rayseth vp the deed?

Verse 9

I also verely thoughte by my selfe, that I oughte to do many cotrary thinges cleane agaynst the name off Iesus off Nazareth,

Verse 10

which I dyd at Ierusalem, whan I shut vp many sayntes in preson, whervpon I receaued auctorite of ye hye prestes. And wha they shulde be put to death, I broughte the sentence.

Verse 11

And thorow all the synagoges I punyshed them oft, and compelled the to blaspheme, and was exceadinge mad vpon them, and persecuted them euen vnto straunge cities.

Verse 12

Aboute which thinges as I wente towarde Damascon with auctorite and lycence of the hye prestes,

Verse 13

euen at myddaye (O kynge) I sawe in the waye, that a lighte from heaue (clearer then the brightnesse of the Sonne) shyned rounde aboute me, and them that iourneyed with me.

Verse 14

But whan we were all fallen downe to the earth, I herde a voyce speakynge vnto me, and sayege in Hebrue: Saul Saul, why persecutest thou me? It shalbe harde for the to kycke agaynst the prycke.

Verse 15

But I sayde: LORDE, who art thou? He sayde: I am Iesus, whom thou persecutest.

Verse 16

But ryse vp, and stonde vpon thy fete, for therfore haue I appeared vnto the, that I mighte ordeyne the to be a mynister and witnesse of it that thou hast sene, and that I wyll yet cause to appeare vnto the.

Verse 17

And I wil delyuer the from the people, and from the Heythen, amonge who I wil now sende the,

Verse 18

to ope their eyes, that they maye turne from the darknesse vnto the lighte, and from the power of ye deuell vnto God, that they maye receaue forgeuenesse of synnes, and the enheritaunce with them that are sanctified by faith in me.

Verse 19

Wherfore (O kynge Agrippa) I was not faithlesse vnto ye heauely vision,

Verse 20

but shewed it first vnto them at Damascon, and at Ierusale, and in all the coastes of Iewry, and to the Heythen, that they shulde do pennaunce, and turne vnto God, and to do the righte workes of pennaunce.

Verse 21

For this cause the Iewes toke me in the temple, and wente aboute to kyll me.

Verse 22

But thorow the helpe of God lent vnto me, I stonde vnto this daye, and testifye both vnto small and greate, and saye no other thinge, the that ye prophetes haue sayde (that it shulde come to passe) and Moses,

Verse 23

that Christ shulde suffre, and be the first of the resurreccion from the deed, and shew light vnto the people, and to the Heythen.

Verse 24

Whan he thus answered for himselfe, Festus sayde with a loude voyce: Paul, thou art besydes thy selfe, moch lernynge maketh ye madd.

Verse 25

But Paul sayde: I am not madd (most deare Festus) but speake the wordes of trueth and sobernesse:

Verse 26

for ye kynge knoweth this well, vnto whom I speake frely. For I thinke that none off these thinges is hyd from him: for this was not done in a corner.

Verse 27

Beleuest thou the prophetes, O kynge Agrippa? I knowe that thou beleuest.

Verse 28

Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou persuadest me in a parte to become a Christen.

Verse 29

Paul sayde: I wolde to God, that (not onely in a parte but alltogether,) I mighte persuade not the onely, but all them that heare me this daye, to be soch I am, these bondes excepte.

Verse 30

And whan he had spoken this, the kynge rose vp, and the Debyte, and Bernice, and they that sat with them,

Verse 31

and wente asyde, and talked together, and sayde: This man hath done nothinge that is worthy of death or of bondes.

Verse 32

But Agrippa sayde vnto Festus: This man mighte haue bene lowsed, yf he had not appealed vnto the Emperoure.

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Chapter 26
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