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Bible chapter guide
Acts 26
Paul makes his defence before Agrippa, telling of his life as a Pharisee, the vision on the Damascus road and his mission to open the eyes of the Gentiles. Festus says he is out of his mind; Agrippa asks if he hopes to make him a Christian so quickly.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Given leave to speak, Paul tells Agrippa he lived as a Pharisee, the strictest party, and once shut many believers in prison and voted against them when they were put to death. He describes the journey to Damascus: a light brighter than the sun at noon, a voice in Hebrew asking why he persecutes him, and a commission to open the eyes of the Gentiles. When he speaks of Christ rising from the dead, Festus shouts that his great learning is driving him mad. Paul turns the question to Agrippa, who answers with a dry remark about being made a Christian, and afterwards tells Festus that the man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.
What the lab shows, and where to look
Like the chapter before it, this one happens at a single stop, 'Caesarea: two years in custody', where 'Before King Agrippa' is one of the events. The speech looks back, so the more useful view is the early years route of Paul's Roads. Open 'The Damascus road', where the conversion is dated to about AD 34 and the journey of about 230 km north from Jerusalem is drawn, then follow the route on to see the years Paul's speech passes over.
- Caesarea: two years in custody (To Rome) · Paul's Roads
- The Damascus road (Early years) · Paul's Roads
- Damascus and the early years · Paul's Roads
Questions people ask
Why are there three accounts of Paul's conversion in Acts?
Luke tells it himself in chapter 9, and Paul retells it to the Jerusalem crowd in chapter 22 and to Agrippa here. The details shift with the audience: only this version has the voice speaking in Hebrew and the saying about the goads, and here the commission comes directly from the Lord rather than through Ananias. The text does not explain the repetition, but it marks how much weight Luke gives the event.
What does 'kick against the pricks' mean?
A goad was a pointed stick for driving oxen; an ox that kicks back at it only hurts itself. The saying was a Greek proverb for fighting against a power you cannot resist, and it appears in Greek literature, for example in Euripides. Only this account of the conversion includes it (26:14).
Was Agrippa almost persuaded?
Probably not. The King James Version has Agrippa say, 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian' (26:28), which gave that impression, but the Greek is short and hard to pin down; it can also be read as a question: with a little persuasion, are you trying to make me a Christian? Most modern readers hear it as a dry deflection, and the Chinese Union Version reads it the same way.
See it in the Labs
- Paul's RoadsCaesarea: two years in custody (To Rome) · Paul's RoadsOpen
- Paul's RoadsThe Damascus road (Early years) · Paul's RoadsOpen