Scriptures

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Acts 26
⁴ "So then, all Jews know my manner of life from my youth up, which from the beginning was spent among my own nation and at Jerusalem;
⁵ since they have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest sect of our religion.
⁶ And now I am standing trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers;
⁷ the promise to which our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly serve God night and day. And for this hope, O King, I am being accused by Jews.
⁸ Why is it considered incredible among you people if God does raise the dead?
⁹ "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
¹⁰ And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I cast my vote against them.
¹¹ And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
¹² "While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
¹³ at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.
¹⁴ And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ’Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’