Actuum Apostolorum 26
1 Agrippa vero ad Paulum ait: Permittitur tibi loqui pro temetipso. Tunc Paulus extenta manu cœpit rationem reddere.
Turning to Paul, Agrippa said, ‘You are at liberty to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defence.
2 De omnibus, quibus accusor a Iudæis, rex Agrippa, æstimo me beatum, apud te cum sim defensurus me hodie,
‘I have been congratulating myself, King Agrippa,’ he said, ‘that it is before you that I have to make my defence today, with regard to all the charges brought against me by my own people,
3 maxime te sciente omnia, et quæ apud Iudæos sunt consuetudines, et quæstiones: propter quod obsecro patienter me audias.
especially as you are so well-versed in all the customs and questions of the Jewish world. I beg you therefore to give me a patient hearing.
4 Et quidem vitam meam a iuventute, quæ ab initio fuit in gente mea in Ierosolymis, noverunt omnes Iudæi:
My life, then, from youth upwards, was passed, from the very first, among my own nation, and in Jerusalem, and is within the knowledge of all Jews;
5 præscientes me ab initio (si velint testimonium perhibere) quoniam secundum certissimam sectam nostræ religionis vixi Pharisæus.
and they have always known – if they choose to give evidence – that, in accordance with the very strictest form of our religion, I lived a true Pharisee.
6 Et nunc in spe, quæ ad patres nostros repromissionis facta est a Deo, sto iudicio subiectus:
Even now, it is because of my hope in the promise given by God to our ancestors that I stand here on my trial –
7 in quam duodecim tribus nostræ nocte ac die deservientes, sperant devenire. De qua spe accusor a Iudæis, rex.
A promise which our twelve tribes, by earnest service night and day, hope to see fulfilled. It is for this hope, your Majesty, that I am accused – and by Jews themselves!
8 Quid incredibile iudicatur apud vos, si Deus mortuos suscitat?
Why do you all hold it incredible that God should raise the dead?
9 Et ego quidem existimaveram, me adversus nomen Iesu Nazareni debere multa contraria agere.
I myself, it is true, once thought it my duty to oppose in every way the name of Jesus of Nazareth;
10 Quod et feci Ierosolymis, et multos sanctorum ego in carceribus inclusi, a principibus sacerdotum potestate accepta: et cum occiderentur, detuli sententiam.
and I actually did so at Jerusalem. Acting on the authority of the chief priests, I myself threw many of the people of Christ into prison, and, when it was proposed to put them to death, I gave my vote for it.
11 Et per omnes synagogas frequenter puniens eos, compellebam blasphemare: et amplius insaniens in eos, persequebar usque in exteras civitates.
Time after time, in every synagogue, I tried by punishments to force them to blaspheme. So frantic was I against them, that I pursued them even to towns beyond our borders.
12 In quibus dum irem Damascum cum potestate, et permissu principum sacerdotum,
It was while I was traveling to Damascus on an errand of this kind, entrusted with full powers by the chief priests,
13 die media in via, vidi, rex, de cælo supra splendorem solis circumfulsisse me lumen, et eos, qui mecum simul erant.
that at midday, your Majesty, I saw right in my path, coming from the heavens, a light brighter than the glare of the sun, which shone all round me and those traveling with me.
14 Omnesque nos cum decidissemus in terram, audivi vocem loquentem mihi Hebraica lingua: Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris? Durum est tibi contra stimulum calcitrare.
We all fell to the ground, and then I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew – “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? By kicking against the goad you are punishing yourself.”
15 Ego autem dixi: Quis es Domine? Dominus autem dixit: Ego sum Iesus, quem tu persequeris.
“Who are you, Lord?” I asked. And the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;
16 Sed exurge, et sta super pedes tuos: ad hoc enim apparui tibi, ut constituam te ministrum, et testem eorum, quæ vidisti, et eorum, quibus apparebo tibi,
but get up and stand upright; for I have appeared to you in order to appoint you a servant and a witness of those revelations of me which you have already had, and of those in which I will yet appear to you,
17 eripiens te de populo, et gentibus, in quas nunc ego mitto te,
since I am choosing you out from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
18 aperire oculos eorum, ut convertantur a tenebris ad lucem, et de potestate Satanæ ad Deum, ut accipiant remissionem peccatorum, et sortem inter sanctos per fidem, quæ est in me.
to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; so that they may receive pardon for their sins, and a place among those who have become God’s people, by faith in me.”
19 Unde rex Agrippa, non fui incredulus cælesti visioni:
After that, King Agrippa, I did not fail to obey the heavenly vision;
20 sed his, qui sunt Damasci primum, et Ierosolymis, et in omnem regionem Iudææ, et Gentibus annunciabam, ut pœnitentiam agerent, et converterentur ad Deum, digna pœnitentiæ opera facientes.
on the contrary, first to those at Damascus and Jerusalem, and then through the whole of Judea, and to the Gentiles as well, I began to preach repentance and conversion to God, and a life befitting that repentance.
21 Hac ex causa me Iudæi, cum essem in templo, comprehensum tentabant interficere.
This is why some men seized me in the Temple, and made attempts on my life.
22 Auxilio autem adiutus Dei usque in hodiernum diem sto, testificans minori, atque maiori, nihil extra dicens quam ea, quæ Prophetæ locuti sunt futura esse, et Moyses,
However I have received help from God to this very day, and so stand here, and bear my testimony to high and low alike – without adding a word to what the prophets, as well as Moses, declared should happen –
23 si passibilis Christus, si primus ex resurrectione mortuorum, lumen annunciaturus est populo, et gentibus.
That the Christ must suffer, and that, by rising from the dead, he was destined to be the first to bring news of light, not only to our nation, but also to the Gentiles.’
24 Hæc loquente eo, et rationem reddente, Festus magna voce dixit: Insanis Paule: multæ te litteræ ad insaniam convertunt.
While Paul was making this defence, Festus called out loudly, ‘You are mad, Paul; your great learning is driving you mad.’
25 Et Paulus: Non insanio (inquit) optime Feste, sed veritatis, et sobrietatis verba loquor.
‘I am not mad, your Excellency,’ he replied. ‘On the contrary, the statements that I am making are true and sober.
26 Scit enim de his rex, ad quem et constanter loquor: latere enim eum nihil horum arbitror. Neque enim in angulo quidquam horum gestum est.
Indeed, the king knows about these matters, so I speak before him without constraint. I am sure that there is nothing whatever of what I have been telling him that has escaped his attention; for all this has not been done in a corner.
27 Credis rex Agrippa prophetis? Scio quia credis.
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.’
28 Agrippa autem ad Paulum: In modico suades me Christianum fieri.
But Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You are soon trying to make a Christian of me!’
29 Et Paulus: Opto apud Deum, et in modico, et in magno, non tantum te, sed etiam omnes, qui audiunt, hodie fieri tales, qualis et ego sum, exceptis vinculis his.
‘Whether it is soon or late,’ answered Paul, ‘I pray to God that not only you, but all who are listening to me, might today become just what I am myself – except for these chains!’
30 Et exurrexit rex, et præses, et Bernice, et qui assidebant eis.
Then the king rose, with the Governor and Bernice and those who had been sitting with them,
31 Et cum secessissent, loquebantur ad invicem, dicentes: Quia nihil morte, aut vinculis dignum quid fecit homo iste.
and, after retiring, discussed the case among themselves. ‘There is nothing,’ they said, ‘deserving death or imprisonment in this man’s conduct’;
32 Agrippa autem Festo dixit: Dimitti poterat homo hic, si non appellasset Cæsarem.
and, speaking to Festus, Agrippa added, ‘The man might have been discharged, if he had not appealed to the Emperor.’
