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Then Agrippa sayde vnto Paul, thou art permitted to speake for thy selfe.
Then Paul stretched foorth the hande, and aunswered [for hym selfe]
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I thynke my selfe happy, king Agrippa, because I shall aunswere this day before thee, of all the thynges whereof I am accused of the Iewes:
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Namely, because thou art expert in all customes and questions, whiche are among the Iewes: Wherefore I beseche thee to heare me patiently.
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My lyfe, that I haue led of a chylde, which was at the first among myne owne nation at Hierusalem, knowe all the Iewes,
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Which knewe me from the beginning, (yf they woulde testifie) that after the most straytest sect of our religion, I lyued a pharisee.
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And nowe I stande and am iudged, for the hope of the promise made of God vnto our fathers:
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Unto which promise, our twelue tribes instantly seruyng God day & nyght, hope to come.
For which hopes sake, kyng Agrippa, I am accused of the Iewes.
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Why shoulde it be thought a thyng incredible vnto you, that God shoulde rayse agayne the dead?
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I also veryly thought in my selfe that I ought to do many contrary thynges, cleane agaynst the name of Iesus of Nazareth:
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Which thyng I also dyd in Hierusalem.
And many of the Saintes dyd I shut vp in pryson, hauyng receaued aucthoritie of the hye priestes: And when they were put to death, I gaue the sentence.
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And I punished them oft in euery synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme: and was yet more mad vpon them, and persecuted them, euen vnto straunge cities.
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About which thynges, as I went to Damascus, with auctoritie and commission of the hye priestes:
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Euen at mydday, O kyng, I sawe in the way, a lyght from heauen, aboue the bryghtnesse of the Sunne, shyne rounde about me and them which iourneyed with me.
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And when we were all fallen to the earth, I hearde a voyce speakyng vnto me, and saying in the Hebrewe tongue: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
It is harde for thee to kicke agaynste the prickes.
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And I sayde: Who art thou Lorde?
And he sayde: I am Iesus whom thou persecutest.
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But ryse and stande vpon thy feete.
For I haue appeared vnto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witnesse, both of those thynges which thou hast seene, and of those thynges in the which I wyll appeare vnto thee,
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Delyueryng thee from the people, and from the gentiles, vnto whom nowe I sende thee,
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To open their eyes, that they may be turned from darknesse to lyght, & from the power of Satan vnto God, that they may receaue forgeuenes of sinnes, & inheritaunce among them which are sanctified by fayth that is towarde me.
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Wherfore, O kyng Agrippa, I was not disobedient vnto the heauenly visio:
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But shewed first vnto them of Damascus, & at Hierusalem, and throughout all the coastes of Iurie, and then to the gentiles, that they shoulde repent, and turne to God, and do such workes as become them that repent.
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For this cause the Iewes caught me in the temple, & went about to kyll me.
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Seyng therefore, that I haue obtayned helpe of God, I continue vnto this day, witnessyng both to small and to great, saying none other thynges, then those which the prophetes and Moyses dyd say shoulde come:
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That Christe shoulde suffer, and that he shoulde be the first that shoulde ryse from the dead, and shoulde shewe lyght vnto the people, and to the gentiles.
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And as he thus spake for hym selfe, Festus sayde with a loude voyce: Paul, thou art besyde thy selfe, much learnyng doth make thee mad.
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But he sayde: I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speake foorth the wordes of trueth and sobernesse.
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For the kyng knoweth of these thynges, before whom also I speake freely, neither thynke I, that any of these thynges are hydden from him: For this thyng was not done in a corner.
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Kyng Agrippa, beleuest thou the prophetes?
I wote wel that thou beleuest.
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Then Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Somewhat thou perswadest me to be a christian.
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And Paul sayde: I woulde to God, that not only thou, but also all that heare me to day, were both somewhat, and also in a great deale, such as I am, except these bondes.
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And when he had thus spoken, the king rose vp, and the deputie, & Bernice, and they that sate with them.
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And when they were gone apart, they talked betwene the selues, saying: This man doth nothyng worthy of death, or of bondes.
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Then sayde Agrippa vnto Festus: This man myght haue ben let loose, yf he had not appealed vnto Caesar.