Building Living Bridges

The New Loneliness: Nurturing Connection When You Feel Isolated

3-Day Bible Plan: How to Truly Love Thy Neighbor in Today’s World

Redeemed: Ruth’s Story of Restoration

A People Set Apart

Quiet Time Moments for Women

Consider It All Joy

Noah: A Covenant With Humanity

Lent: The Journey of Letting Go

The Uniqueness of Jesus

The Listener’s Bible®: NIV Edition

New International Version™  (Anglicised), Audio Edition

Holy Bible, New International Version™ (Anglicised), South Asian Audio Edition

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkACT">
      <div class="chapter ch26" data-usfm="ACT.26">
         <div class="label">26</div><div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="ACT.26.1"><span class="label">1</span><span class="content">Then Agrippa said to Paul, &#8220;You have permission to speak for yourself.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v1" data-usfm="ACT.26.1"><span class="content">So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense: </span></span><span class="verse v2" data-usfm="ACT.26.2"><span class="label">2</span><span class="content">&#8220;King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews, </span></span><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="ACT.26.3"><span class="label">3</span><span class="content">and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v3" data-usfm="ACT.26.3"></span><span class="verse v4" data-usfm="ACT.26.4"><span class="label">4</span><span class="content">&#8220;The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem. </span></span><span class="verse v5" data-usfm="ACT.26.5"><span class="label">5</span><span class="content">They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee. </span></span><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="ACT.26.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today. </span></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="ACT.26.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me. </span></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="ACT.26.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="ACT.26.8"></span><span class="verse v9" data-usfm="ACT.26.9"><span class="label">9</span><span class="content">&#8220;I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. </span></span><span class="verse v10" data-usfm="ACT.26.10"><span class="label">10</span><span class="content">And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord&#8217;s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. </span></span><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ACT.26.11"><span class="label">11</span><span class="content">Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v11" data-usfm="ACT.26.11"></span><span class="verse v12" data-usfm="ACT.26.12"><span class="label">12</span><span class="content">&#8220;On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. </span></span><span class="verse v13" data-usfm="ACT.26.13"><span class="label">13</span><span class="content">About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. </span></span><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="ACT.26.14"><span class="label">14</span><span class="content">We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">26:14 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="fqa">Hebrew</span></span></span><span class="content"> </span><span class="wj"><span class="content">&#8216;Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.&#8217;</span></span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v14" data-usfm="ACT.26.14"></span><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="ACT.26.15"><span class="label">15</span><span class="content">&#8220;Then I asked, &#8216;Who are you, Lord?&#8217;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v15" data-usfm="ACT.26.15"><span class="content">&#8220; </span><span class="wj"><span class="content">&#8216;I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,&#8217;</span></span><span class="content"> the Lord replied. </span></span><span class="verse v16" data-usfm="ACT.26.16"><span class="label">16</span><span class="wj"><span class="content">&#8216;Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.</span></span><span class="content"> </span></span><span class="verse v17" data-usfm="ACT.26.17"><span class="label">17</span><span class="wj"><span class="content">I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them</span></span><span class="content"> </span></span><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.26.18"><span class="label">18</span><span class="wj"><span class="content">to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.&#8217;</span></span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v18" data-usfm="ACT.26.18"></span><span class="verse v19" data-usfm="ACT.26.19"><span class="label">19</span><span class="content">&#8220;So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. </span></span><span class="verse v20" data-usfm="ACT.26.20"><span class="label">20</span><span class="content">First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. </span></span><span class="verse v21" data-usfm="ACT.26.21"><span class="label">21</span><span class="content">That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. </span></span><span class="verse v22" data-usfm="ACT.26.22"><span class="label">22</span><span class="content">But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen&#8212; </span></span><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="ACT.26.23"><span class="label">23</span><span class="content">that the Messiah would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would bring the message of light to his own people and to the Gentiles.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v23" data-usfm="ACT.26.23"></span><span class="verse v24" data-usfm="ACT.26.24"><span class="label">24</span><span class="content">At this point Festus interrupted Paul&#8217;s defense. &#8220;You are out of your mind, Paul!&#8221; he shouted. &#8220;Your great learning is driving you insane.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v24" data-usfm="ACT.26.24"></span><span class="verse v25" data-usfm="ACT.26.25"><span class="label">25</span><span class="content">&#8220;I am not insane, most excellent Festus,&#8221; Paul replied. &#8220;What I am saying is true and reasonable. </span></span><span class="verse v26" data-usfm="ACT.26.26"><span class="label">26</span><span class="content">The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. </span></span><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.26.27"><span class="label">27</span><span class="content">King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v27" data-usfm="ACT.26.27"></span><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.26.28"><span class="label">28</span><span class="content">Then Agrippa said to Paul, &#8220;Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="ACT.26.28"></span><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="ACT.26.29"><span class="label">29</span><span class="content">Paul replied, &#8220;Short time or long&#8212;I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v29" data-usfm="ACT.26.29"></span><span class="verse v30" data-usfm="ACT.26.30"><span class="label">30</span><span class="content">The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. </span></span><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="ACT.26.31"><span class="label">31</span><span class="content">After they left the room, they began saying to one another, &#8220;This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment.&#8221;</span></span></div><div class="p"><span class="verse v31" data-usfm="ACT.26.31"></span><span class="verse v32" data-usfm="ACT.26.32"><span class="label">32</span><span class="content">Agrippa said to Festus, &#8220;This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.&#8221;</span></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>

New International Version

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkPSA">
      <div class="chapter ch37" data-usfm="PSA.37.28">
         <div class="q1"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="PSA.37.28"><span class="label">28</span><span class="content">For the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> loves the just</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="PSA.37.28"><span class="content">and will not forsake his faithful ones.</span></span></div><div class="b"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="PSA.37.28"></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="PSA.37.28"><span class="content">Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed</span><span class="note f"><span class="label">#</span><span class="body"><span class="fr">37:28 </span><span class="ft">See Septuagint; Hebrew </span><span class="fqa">They will be protected forever</span></span></span><span class="content">;</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="PSA.37.28"><span class="content">the offspring of the wicked will perish.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v28" data-usfm="PSA.37.28"></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>

<div class="version vid111 iso6393eng" data-vid="111" data-iso6393="eng">
   <div class="book bkPRO">
      <div class="chapter ch2" data-usfm="PRO.2.6+PRO.2.7+PRO.2.8">
         <div class="q1"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="PRO.2.6"><span class="label">6</span><span class="content">For the </span><span class="nd"><span class="content">Lord</span></span><span class="content"> gives wisdom;</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="PRO.2.6"><span class="content">from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v6" data-usfm="PRO.2.6"></span><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="PRO.2.7"><span class="label">7</span><span class="content">He holds success in store for the upright,</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="PRO.2.7"><span class="content">he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,</span></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v7" data-usfm="PRO.2.7"></span><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="PRO.2.8"><span class="label">8</span><span class="content">for he guards the course of the just</span></span></div><div class="q2"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="PRO.2.8"><span class="content">and protects the way of his faithful ones.</span></span></div><div class="b"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="PRO.2.8"></span></div><div class="q1"><span class="verse v8" data-usfm="PRO.2.8"></span></div>
      </div>
   </div>
</div>

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