Coverdale(i)
4 My lyuynge truly from youth vp (how it was led from the begynnynge amonge this people at Ierusale) knowe all the Iewes
5 which knewe me afore at the first, yf they wolde testifye, for after the most strayte secte of oure Iewysh lawe, I lyued a Pharise.
6 And now stonde I, and am iudged because of the hope of the promes, that was made of God vnto oure fathers,
7 vnto the which (promes) oure twolue trybes hope to come, seruynge God instatly daye and nighte. For the which hopes sake (O kynge Agrippa) I am accused of the Iewes.
8 Wherfore is this iudged amonge you not to be beleued, that God rayseth vp the deed?
9 I also verely thoughte by my selfe, that I oughte to do many cotrary thinges cleane agaynst the name off Iesus off Nazareth,
10 which I dyd at Ierusalem, whan I shut vp many sayntes in preson, whervpon I receaued auctorite of ye hye prestes. And wha they shulde be put to death, I broughte the sentence.
11 And thorow all the synagoges I punyshed them oft, and compelled the to blaspheme, and was exceadinge mad vpon them, and persecuted them euen vnto straunge cities.
12 Aboute which thinges as I wente towarde Damascon with auctorite and lycence of the hye prestes,
13 euen at myddaye (O kynge) I sawe in the waye, that a lighte from heaue (clearer then the brightnesse of the Sonne) shyned rounde aboute me, and them that iourneyed with me.
14 But whan we were all fallen downe to the earth, I herde a voyce speakynge vnto me, and sayege in Hebrue: Saul Saul, why persecutest thou me? It shalbe harde for the to kycke agaynst the prycke.
15 But I sayde: LORDE, who art thou? He sayde: I am Iesus, whom thou persecutest.
16 But ryse vp, and stonde vpon thy fete, for therfore haue I appeared vnto the, that I mighte ordeyne the to be a mynister and witnesse of it that thou hast sene, and that I wyll yet cause to appeare vnto the.
17 And I wil delyuer the from the people, and from the Heythen, amonge who I wil now sende the,
18 to ope their eyes, that they maye turne from the darknesse vnto the lighte, and from the power of ye deuell vnto God, that they maye receaue forgeuenesse of synnes, and the enheritaunce with them that are sanctified by faith in me.
19 Wherfore (O kynge Agrippa) I was not faithlesse vnto ye heauely vision,
20 but shewed it first vnto them at Damascon, and at Ierusale, and in all the coastes of Iewry, and to the Heythen, that they shulde do pennaunce, and turne vnto God, and to do the righte workes of pennaunce.
21 For this cause the Iewes toke me in the temple, and wente aboute to kyll me.
22 But thorow the helpe of God lent vnto me, I stonde vnto this daye, and testifye both vnto small and greate, and saye no other thinge, the that ye prophetes haue sayde (that it shulde come to passe) and Moses,
23 that Christ shulde suffre, and be the first of the resurreccion from the deed, and shew light vnto the people, and to the Heythen.
24 Whan he thus answered for himselfe, Festus sayde with a loude voyce: Paul, thou art besydes thy selfe, moch lernynge maketh ye madd.
25 But Paul sayde: I am not madd (most deare Festus) but speake the wordes of trueth and sobernesse:
26 for ye kynge knoweth this well, vnto whom I speake frely. For I thinke that none off these thinges is hyd from him: for this was not done in a corner.
27 Beleuest thou the prophetes, O kynge Agrippa? I knowe that thou beleuest.
28 Agrippa sayde vnto Paul: Thou persuadest me in a parte to become a Christen.
29 Paul sayde: I wolde to God, that (not onely in a parte but alltogether,) I mighte persuade not the onely, but all them that heare me this daye, to be soch I am, these bondes excepte.