Daily Mass Readings for May 14, 2026: Gospel — Jo 15, 9-17

1 ⁵ In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a gathering of about 1 2 ⁰ people) and said, 1 ⁶ “Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit foretold through David concerning Judas—who became the guide for those who arrested Jesus— 1 ⁷ for he was counted as one of us and received a share in this ministry.” 2 0 :¹ After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging them and saying farewell, he left to go to Macedonia. ² After he had gone through those regions and spoken many words of encouragement to the believers there, he came to Greece, ³ where he stayed for three months. Because the Jews had made a plot against him as he was intending to sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. ⁴ Paul was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, and Timothy, as well as Tychicus and Trophimus from the province of Asia. ⁵ These had gone on ahead and were waiting for us in Troas. ⁶ We sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and within five days we came to the others in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. ⁷ On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul began to speak to the people, and because he intended to leave the next day, he extended his message until midnight. ⁸ (Now there were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting.) ⁹ A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, was sinking into a deep sleep while Paul continued to speak for a long time. Fast asleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead. 1 ⁰ But Paul went down, threw himself on the young man, put his arms around him, and said, “Do not be distressed, for he is still alive!” 1 ¹ Then Paul went back upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he talked with them a long time, until dawn. Then he left. 1 ² They took the boy home alive and were greatly comforted. 1 ³ We went on ahead to the ship and put out to sea for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged it this way. He himself was intending to go there by land. 1 ⁴ When he met us in Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene. 1 ⁵ We set sail from there, and on the following day we arrived off Chios. The next day we approached Samos, and the day after that we arrived at Miletus. 1 ⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so as not to spend time in the province of Asia, for he was hurrying to arrive in Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost. 1 ⁷ From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, telling the elders of the church to come to him. 1 ⁸ When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot in the province of Asia, 1 ⁹ serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, and with the trials that happened to me because of the plots of the Jews. 2 ⁰ You know that I did not hold back from proclaiming to you anything that would be helpful, and from teaching you publicly and from house to house, 2 ¹ testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. 2 ² And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem without knowing what will happen to me there, 2 ³ except that the Holy Spirit warns me in town after town that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. 2 ⁴ But I do not consider my life worth anything to myself, so that I may finish my task and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace. 2 ⁵ “And now I know that none of you among whom I went around proclaiming the kingdom will see me again. 2 ⁶ Therefore I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of you all. 2 ⁷ For I did not hold back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God. 2 ⁸ Watch out for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. 2 ⁹ I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 3 ⁰ Even from among your own group men will arise, teaching perversions of the truth to draw the disciples away after them. 3 ¹ Therefore be alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears. 3 ² And now I entrust you to God and to the message of his grace. This message is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 3 ³ I have desired no one’s silver or gold or clothing. 3 ⁴ You yourselves know that these hands of mine provided for my needs and the needs of those who were with me. 3 ⁵ By all these things, I have shown you that by working in this way we must help the weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” 3 ⁶ When he had said these things, he knelt down with them all and prayed. 3 ⁷ They all began to weep loudly, and hugged Paul and kissed him, 3 ⁸ especially saddened by what he had said, that they were not going to see him again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. 2 1 :¹ After we tore ourselves away from them, we put out to sea, and sailing a straight course, we came to Cos, on the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. ² We found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, went aboard, and put out to sea. ³ After we sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre because the ship was to unload its cargo there. ⁴ After we located the disciples, we stayed there seven days. They repeatedly told Paul through the Spirit not to set foot in Jerusalem. ⁵ When our time was over, we left and went on our way. All of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us outside of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, ⁶ we said farewell to one another. Then we went aboard the ship, and they returned to their own homes. ⁷ We continued the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, and when we had greeted the brothers, we stayed with them for one day. ⁸ On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. ⁹ (He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.) 1 ⁰ While we remained there for a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 1 ¹ He came to us, took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it, and said, “The Holy Spirit says this: ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man whose belt this is and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” 1 ² When we heard this, both we and the local people begged him not to go up to Jerusalem. 1 ³ Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be tied up, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” 1 ⁴ Because he could not be persuaded, we said no more except, “The Lord’s will be done.” 1 ⁵ After these days we got ready and started up to Jerusalem. 1 ⁶ Some of the disciples from Caesarea came along with us too, and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, a disciple from the earliest times, with whom we were to stay. 1 ⁷ When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. 1 ⁸ The next day Paul went in with us to see James, and all the elders were there. 1 ⁹ When Paul had greeted them, he began to explain in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 2 ⁰ When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all ardent observers of the law. 2 ¹ They have been informed about you—that you teach all the Jews now living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 2 ² What then should we do? They will no doubt hear that you have come. 2 ³ So do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow; 2 ⁴ take them and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself live in conformity with the law. 2 ⁵ But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality.” 2 ⁶ Then Paul took the men the next day, and after he had purified himself along with them, he went to the temple and gave notice of the completion of the days of purification, when the sacrifice would be offered for each of them. 2 ⁷ When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia who had seen him in the temple area stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, 2 ⁸ shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this sanctuary! Furthermore he has brought Greeks into the inner courts of the temple and made this holy place ritually unclean!” 2 ⁹ (For they had seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him previously, and they assumed Paul had brought him into the inner temple courts.) 3 ⁰ The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple courts, and immediately the doors were shut. 3 ¹ While they were trying to kill him, a report was sent up to the commanding officer of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 3 ² He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When they saw the commanding officer and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 3 ³ Then the commanding officer came up and arrested him and ordered him to be tied up with two chains; he then asked who he was and what he had done. 3 ⁴ But some in the crowd shouted one thing, and others something else, and when the commanding officer was unable to find out the truth because of the disturbance, he ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks. 3 ⁵ When he came to the steps, Paul had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob, 3 ⁶ for a crowd of people followed them, screaming, “Away with him!” 3 ⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commanding officer, “May I say something to you?” The officer replied, “Do you know Greek? 3 ⁸ Then you’re not that Egyptian who started a rebellion and led the 4 ,000 men of the ‘Assassins’ into the wilderness sometime ago?” 3 ⁹ Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Please allow me to speak to the people.” 4 ⁰ When the commanding officer had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and gestured to the people with his hand. When they had become silent, he addressed them in Aramaic, 2 2 :¹ “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense that I now make to you.” ² (When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said, ³ “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated with strictness under Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today. ⁴ I persecuted this Way even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, ⁵ as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. ⁶ As I was en route and near Damascus, about noon a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷ Then I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸ I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ Those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 1 ⁰ So I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything that you have been designated to do.’ 1 ¹ Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me. 1 ² A man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there, 1 ³ came to me and stood beside me and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up and saw him. 1 ⁴ Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has already chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a command from his mouth, 1 ⁵ because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 1 ⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’ 1 ⁷ When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 1 ⁸ and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 1 ⁹ I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those in the various synagogues who believed in you. 2 ⁰ And when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing nearby, approving, and guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ 2 ¹ Then he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” 2 ² The crowd was listening to him until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” 2 ³ While they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust in the air, 2 ⁴ the commanding officer ordered Paul to be brought back into the barracks. He told them to interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash so that he could find out the reason the crowd was shouting at Paul in this way. 2 ⁵ When they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen without a proper trial?” 2 ⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” 2 ⁷ So the commanding officer came and asked Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” He replied, “Yes.” 2 ⁸ The commanding officer answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” “But I was even born a citizen,” Paul replied. 2 ⁹ Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away from him, and the commanding officer was frightened when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had had him tied up. 3 ⁰ The next day, because the commanding officer wanted to know the true reason Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them. 2 3 :¹ Paul looked directly at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God to this day.” ² At that the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit there judging me according to the law, and in violation of the law you order me to be struck?” ⁴ Those standing near him said, “Do you dare insult God’s high priest?” ⁵ Paul replied, “I did not realize, brothers, that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You must not speak evil about a ruler of your people.’” ⁶ Then when Paul noticed that part of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, he shouted out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial concerning the hope of the resurrection of the dead!” ⁷ When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ (For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, or angel, or spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.) ⁹ There was a great commotion, and some experts in the law from the party of the Pharisees stood up and protested strongly, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 1 ⁰ When the argument became so great the commanding officer feared that they would tear Paul to pieces, he ordered the detachment to go down, take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. 1 ¹ The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Have courage, for just as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” 1 ² When morning came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. 1 ³ There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy. 1 ⁴ They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to partake of anything until we have killed Paul. 1 ⁵ So now you and the council request the commanding officer to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine his case by conducting a more thorough inquiry. We are ready to kill him before he comes near this place.” 1 ⁶ But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the ambush, he came and entered the barracks and told Paul. 1 ⁷ Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commanding officer, for he has something to report to him.” 1 ⁸ So the centurion took him and brought him to the commanding officer and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you because he has something to tell you.” 1 ⁹ The commanding officer took him by the hand, withdrew privately, and asked, “What is it that you want to report to me?” 2 ⁰ He replied, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as if they were going to inquire more thoroughly about him. 2 ¹ So do not let them persuade you to do this because more than forty of them are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” 2 ² Then the commanding officer sent the young man away, directing him, “Tell no one that you have reported these things to me.” 2 ³ Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, “Make ready 2 0 ⁰ soldiers to go to Caesarea along with 7 ⁰ horsemen and 2 0 ⁰ spearmen by nine o’clock tonight, 2 ⁴ and provide mounts for Paul to ride so that he may be brought safely to Felix the governor.” 2 ⁵ He wrote a letter that went like this: 2 ⁶ Claudius Lysias to His Excellency Governor Felix, greetings. 2 ⁷ This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, when I came up with the detachment and rescued him because I had learned that he was a Roman citizen. 2 ⁸ Since I wanted to know what charge they were accusing him of, I brought him down to their council. 2 ⁹ I found he was accused with reference to controversial questions about their law, but no charge against him deserved death or imprisonment. 3 ⁰ When I was informed there would be a plot against this man, I sent him to you at once, also ordering his accusers to state their charges against him before you. 3 ¹ So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him to Antipatris during the night. 3 ² The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, and they returned to the barracks. 3 ³ When the horsemen came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him. 3 ⁴ When the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, 3 ⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive too.” Then he ordered that Paul be kept under guard in Herod’s palace. 2 4 :¹ After five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney named Tertullus, and they brought formal charges against Paul to the governor. ² When Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “We have experienced a lengthy time of peace through your rule, and reforms are being made in this nation through your foresight. ³ Most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this everywhere and in every way with all gratitude. ⁴ But so that I may not delay you any further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness. ⁵ For we have found this man to be a troublemaker, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. ⁶ He even tried to desecrate the temple, so we arrested him. ⁸ When you examine him yourself, you will be able to learn from him about all these things we are accusing him of doing.” ⁹ The Jews also joined in the verbal attack, claiming that these things were true. 1 ⁰ When the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I confidently make my defense. 1 ¹ As you can verify for yourself, not more than 1 ² days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 1 ² They did not find me arguing with anyone or stirring up a crowd in the temple courts or in the synagogues or throughout the city, 1 ³ nor can they prove to you the things they are accusing me of doing. 1 ⁴ But I confess this to you, that I worship the God of our ancestors according to the Way (which they call a sect), believing everything that is according to the law and that is written in the prophets. 1 ⁵ I have a hope in God (a hope that these men themselves accept too) that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. 1 ⁶ This is the reason I do my best to always have a clear conscience toward God and toward people. 1 ⁷ After several years I came to bring to my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings, 1 ⁸ which I was doing when they found me in the temple, ritually purified, without a crowd or a disturbance. 1 ⁹ But there are some Jews from the province of Asia who should be here before you and bring charges, if they have anything against me. 2 ⁰ Or these men here should tell what crime they found me guilty of when I stood before the council, 2 ¹ other than this one thing I shouted out while I stood before them: ‘I am on trial before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead.’” 2 ² Then Felix, who understood the facts concerning the Way more accurately, adjourned their hearing, saying, “When Lysias the commanding officer comes down, I will decide your case.” 2 ³ He ordered the centurion to guard Paul, but to let him have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from meeting his needs. 2 ⁴ Some days later, when Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. 2 ⁵ While Paul was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for now, and when I have an opportunity, I will send for you.” 2 ⁶ At the same time he was also hoping that Paul would give him money, and for this reason he sent for Paul as often as possible and talked with him. 2 ⁷ After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. 2 5 :¹ Now three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² So the chief priests and the most prominent men of the Jews brought formal charges against Paul to him. ³ Requesting him to do them a favor against Paul, they urged Festus to summon him to Jerusalem, planning an ambush to kill him along the way. ⁴ Then Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea, and he himself intended to go there shortly. ⁵ “So,” he said, “let your leaders go down there with me, and if this man has done anything wrong, they may bring charges against him.” ⁶ After Festus had stayed not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they were not able to prove. ⁸ Paul said in his defense, “I have committed no offense against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar.” ⁹ But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried before me there on these charges?” 1 ⁰ Paul replied, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I should be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you also know very well. 1 ¹ If then I am in the wrong and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, but if not one of their charges against me is true, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!” 1 ² Then, after conferring with his council, Festus replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go!” 1 ³ After several days had passed, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus. 1 ⁴ While they were staying there many days, Festus explained Paul’s case to the king to get his opinion, saying, “There is a man left here as a prisoner by Felix. 1 ⁵ When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me about him, asking for a sentence of condemnation against him. 1 ⁶ I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had met his accusers face-to-face and had been given an opportunity to make a defense against the accusation. 1 ⁷ So after they came back here with me, I did not postpone the case, but the next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought. 1 ⁸ When his accusers stood up, they did not charge him with any of the evil deeds I had suspected. 1 ⁹ Rather they had several points of disagreement with him about their own religion and about a man named Jesus who was dead, whom Paul claimed to be alive. 2 ⁰ Because I was at a loss how I could investigate these matters, I asked if he were willing to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on these charges. 2 ¹ But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the decision of His Majesty the Emperor, I ordered him to be kept under guard until I could send him to Caesar.” 2 ² Agrippa said to Festus, “I would also like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he replied, “you will hear him.” 2 ³ So the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall, along with the senior military officers and the prominent men of the city. When Festus gave the order, Paul was brought in. 2 ⁴ Then Festus said, “King Agrippa, and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he ought not to live any longer. 2 ⁵ But I found that he had done nothing that deserved death, and when he appealed to His Majesty the Emperor, I decided to send him. 2 ⁶ But I have nothing definite to write to my lord about him. Therefore I have brought him before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after this preliminary hearing I may have something to write. 2 ⁷ For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without clearly indicating the charges against him.” 2 6 :¹ So Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand and began his defense: ² “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today, ³ because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversial issues of the Jews. Therefore I ask you to listen to me patiently. ⁴ Now all the Jews know the way I lived from my youth, spending my life from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They know because they have known me from time past, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. ⁶ And now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, ⁷ a promise that our 1 ² tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. Concerning this hope the Jews are accusing me, Your Majesty! ⁸ Why do you people think it is unbelievable that God raises the dead? ⁹ Of course, I myself was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. 1 ⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote against them when they were sentenced to death. 1 ¹ I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme. Because I was so furiously enraged at them, I went to persecute them even in foreign cities. 1 ² “While doing this very thing, as I was going to Damascus with authority and complete power from the chief priests, 1 ³ about noon along the road, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining everywhere around me and those traveling with me. 1 ⁴ When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself by kicking against the goads.’ 1 ⁵ So I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 1 ⁶ But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance as a servant and witness to the things you have seen and to the things in which I will appear to you. 1 ⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you 1 ⁸ to open their eyes so that they turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 1 ⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 2 ⁰ but I declared to those in Damascus first, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with repentance. 2 ¹ For this reason the Jews, after they seized me while I was in the temple courts, were trying to kill me. 2 ² I have experienced help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses said was going to happen: 2 ³ that the Christ was to suffer and be the first to rise from the dead, to proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” 2 ⁴ As Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!” 2 ⁵ But Paul replied, “I have not lost my mind, most excellent Festus, but am speaking true and rational words. 2 ⁶ For the king knows about these things, and I am speaking freely to him because I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. 2 ⁷ Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe.” 2 ⁸ Agrippa said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?” 2 ⁹ Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” 3 ⁰ So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them, 3 ¹ and as they were leaving they said to one another, “This man is not doing anything deserving death or imprisonment.” 3 ² Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”