Acts 25:22-23

25:22 Agrippa ¹  said to Festus, ²  “I would also like to hear the man myself.” “Tomorrow,” he replied, ³  “you will hear him.”

Paul Before King Agrippa and Bernice

25:23 So the next day Agrippa ⁴  and Bernice came with great pomp ⁵  and entered the audience hall, ⁶  along with the senior military officers ⁷  and the prominent men of the city. When Festus ⁸  gave the order, ⁹  Paul was brought in.

Acts 26:1

Paul Offers His Defense

26:1 So Agrippa ¹⁰  said to Paul, “You have permission ¹¹  to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand ¹²  and began his defense: ¹³ 

Acts 26:27-28

26:27 Do you believe the prophets, ¹⁴  King Agrippa? ¹⁵  I know that you believe.” 26:28 Agrippa ¹⁶  said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?” ¹⁷ 

[25:22]  ¹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[25:22]  ² sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:22]  ³ tn Grk “said.”

[25:23]  ⁴ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[25:23]  ⁵ tn Or “great pageantry” (BDAG 1049 s.v. φαντασία; the term is a NT hapax legomenon).

[25:23]  ⁶ tn Or “auditorium.” “Auditorium” may suggest to the modern English reader a theater where performances are held. Here it is the large hall where a king or governor would hold audiences. Paul once spoke of himself as a “spectacle” to the world (1 Cor 4:8-13).

[25:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “the chiliarchs” (officers in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[25:23]  ⁸ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[25:23]  ⁹ tn Grk “and Festus ordering, Paul was brought in.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was begun in the translation, and καί (kai) has not been translated. The participle κελεύσαντος (keleusanto") has been taken temporally.

[26:1]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”

[26:1]  ¹² tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).

[26:1]  ¹³ tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”

[26:27]  ¹⁴ sn “Do you believe the prophets?” Note how Paul made the issue believing the OT prophets and God’s promise which God fulfilled in Christ. He was pushing King Agrippa toward a decision not for or against Paul’s guilt of any crime, but concerning Paul’s message.

[26:27]  ¹⁵ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:28]  ¹⁶ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:28]  ¹⁷ tn Or “In a short time you will make me a Christian.” On the difficulty of the precise nuances of Agrippa’s reply in this passage, see BDAG 791 s.v. πείθω 1.b. The idiom is like 1 Kgs 21:7 LXX. The point is that Paul was trying to persuade Agrippa to accept his message. If Agrippa had let Paul persuade him, he would have converted to Christianity.