Acts 26:28-32

26:28 Agrippa ¹  said to Paul, “In such a short time are you persuading me to become a Christian?” ²  26:29 Paul replied, “I pray to God that whether in a short or a long time ³  not only you but also all those who are listening to me today could become such as I am, except for these chains.” ⁴ 

26:30 So the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them, 26:31 and as they were leaving they said to one another, ⁵  “This man is not doing anything deserving ⁶  death or imprisonment.” 26:32 Agrippa ⁷  said to Festus, ⁸  “This man could have been released ⁹  if he had not appealed to Caesar.” ¹⁰ 

[26:28]  ¹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:28]  ² 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.

[26:29]  ³ tn BDAG 703 s.v. ὀλίγος 2.b.β has “καὶ ἐν ὀλ. καὶ ἐν μεγάλῳ whether in a short or a long time vs. 29 (cf. B-D-F §195; GWhitaker, The Words of Agrippa to St. Paul: JTS 15, 1914, 82f; AFridrichsen, SymbOsl 14, ’35, 50; Field, Notes 141-43; s. Rob. 653).”

[26:29]  ⁴ sn Except for these chains. The chains represented Paul’s unjust suffering for the sake of the message. His point was, in effect, “I do not care how long it takes. I only hope you and everyone else hearing this would become believers in Christ, but without my unjust suffering.”

[26:31]  ⁵ tn Grk “they spoke to one another saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[26:31]  ⁶ tn BDAG 93 s.v. ἄξιος 1.b has “θανάτου ἢ δεσμῶν ἄ. nothing deserving death or imprisonment 23:29; 26:31.”

[26:32]  ⁷ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:32]  ⁸ sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.

[26:32]  ⁹ tn Or “set free.”

[26:32]  ¹⁰ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).