¹And Agrippa said unto Paul, `It is permitted to thee to speak for thyself;` then Paul having stretched forth the hand, was making a defence:

¹አግሪጳም ጳውሎስን። ስለ ራስህ ትናገር ዘንድ ተፈቅዶልሃል አለው። በዚያን ጊዜ ጳውሎስ እጁን ዘርግቶ መለሰ እንዲህ ሲል።

²`Concerning all things of which I am accused by Jews, king Agrippa, I have thought myself happy, being about to make a defence before thee to-day,

²ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ የአይሁድን ሥርዓት ክርክርንም ሁሉ አጥብቀህ አውቀሃልና በአይሁድ በተከሰስሁበት ነገር ሁሉ ዛሬ በፊትህ ስለምመልስ ራሴን እጅግ እንደ ተመረቀ አድርጌ እቈጥረዋለሁ፤ ስለዚህ በትዕግሥት ትሰማኝ ዘንድ እለምንሃለሁ።

³especially knowing thee to be acquainted with all things — both customs and questions — among Jews; wherefore, I beseech thee, patiently to hear me.

⁴ከመጀመሪያ አንሥቶ በሕዝቤ መካከል በኢየሩሳሌም የሆነውን፥ ከታናሽነቴ ጀምሬ የኖርሁትን ኑሮዬን አይሁድ ሁሉ ያውቃሉ፤

⁴`The manner of my life then, indeed, from youth — which from the beginning was among my nation, in Jerusalem — know do all the Jews,

⁵ሊመሰክሩ ይወዱ እንደ ሆነ፥ በአምልኮአችን ከሁሉ ይልቅ ሕግን በመጠንቀቅ እንደሚተጋ ወገን ፈሪሳዊ ሆኜ እንደኖርሁ ከጥንት ጀምረው አውቀውኛልና።

⁵knowing me before from the first, (if they may be willing to testify,) that after the most exact sect of our worship, I lived a Pharisee;

⁶አሁንም ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ ለአባቶቻችን ስለ ተሰጠው ስለ ተስፋ ቃል አለኝታ ልፋረድ ቆሜአለሁ።

⁶and now for the hope of the promise made to the fathers by God, I have stood judged,

⁷ወደዚህም ወደ ተስፋ ቃል አሥራ ሁለቱ ወገኖቻችን ሌሊትና ቀን በትጋት እያመለኩ ይደርሱ ዘንድ አለኝታ አላቸው፤ ስለዚህም አለኝታ፥ ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ ከአይሁድ እከሰሳለሁ።

⁷to which our twelve tribes, intently night and day serving, do hope to come, concerning which hope I am accused, king Agrippa, by the Jews;

⁸እግዚአብሔር ሙታንን የሚያስነሣ እንደ ሆነ ስለ ምን በእናንተ ዘንድ የማይታመን ነገር ሆኖ ይቈጠራል?

⁸why is it judged incredible with you, if God doth raise the dead?

⁹እኔም ራሴ የናዝሬቱን የኢየሱስን ስም የሚቃወም እጅግ ነገር አደርግ ዘንድ እንዲገባኝ ይመስለኝ ነበር።

⁹`I, indeed, therefore, thought with myself, that against the name of Jesus of Nazareth it behoved [me] many things to do,

¹⁰ይህንም ደግሞ በኢየሩሳሌም አደረግሁት፤ ከካህናት አለቆችም ሥልጣን ተቀብዬ እኔ ከቅዱሳን ብዙዎችን በወኅኒ አሳሰርኋቸው፥ ሲገድሉአቸውም አብሬ ተቸሁ።

¹⁰which also I did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I in prison did shut up, from the chief priests having received the authority; they also being put to death, I gave my vote against them,

¹¹በምኵራብም ሁሉ ብዙ ጊዜ እየቀጣሁ ይሰድቡት ዘንድ ግድ አልኋቸው፤ ያለ ልክ ስቈጣባቸውም እስከ ውጭ አገር ከተማዎች ድረስ እንኳ አሳድድ ነበር።

¹¹and in every synagogue, often punishing them, I was constraining [them] to speak evil, being also exceedingly mad against them, I was also persecuting [them] even unto strange cities.

¹²ስለዚህም ነገ ከካህናት አለቆች ሥልጣንና ትእዛዝ ተቀብዬ ወደ ደማስቆ ስሄድ፥

¹²`In which things, also, going on to Damascus — with authority and commission from the chief priests —

¹³ንጉሥ ሆይ፥ በመንገድ ሳለሁ እኩል ቀን ሲሆን በዙሪያዬና ከእኔ ጋር በሄዱት ዙሪያ ከፀሐይ ብሩህነት የበለጠ ብርሃን ከሰማይ ሲበራ አየሁ፤

¹³at mid-day, I saw in the way, O king, out of heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me a light — and those going on with me;

¹⁴ሁላችንም በምድር ላይ በወደቅን ጊዜ። ሳውል ሳውል፥ ስለ ምን ታሳድደኛለህ? የመውጊያውን ብረት ብትቃወም ለአንተ ይብስብሃል የሚል ድምፅ በዕብራይስጥ ቋንቋ ሲናገረኝ ሰማሁ።

¹⁴and we all having fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew dialect, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute? hard for thee against pricks to kick!

¹⁵እኔም። ጌታ ሆይ፥ ማንነህ? አልሁ። እርሱም አለኝ። አንተ የምታሳድደኝ እኔ ኢየሱስ ነኝ።

¹⁵`And I said, Who art thou, Lord? and he said, I am Jesus whom thou dost persecute;

¹⁶ነገር ግን ተነሣና በእግርህ ቁም፤ ስለዚህ እኔን ባየህበት ነገር ለአንተም በምታይበት ነገር አገልጋይና ምስክር ትሆን ዘንድ ልሾምህ ታይቼልሃለሁና።

¹⁶but rise, and stand upon thy feet, for for this I appeared to thee, to appoint thee an officer and a witness both of the things thou didst see, and of the things [in which] I will appear to thee,

¹⁷የኃጢአትንም ስርየት በእኔም በማመን በተቀደሱት መካከል ርስትን ያገኙ ዘንድ፥ ከጨለማ ወደ ብርሃን ከሰይጣንም ሥልጣን ወደ እግዚአብሔር ዘወር እንዲሉ ዓይናቸውን ትከፍት ዘንድ፥ ከሕዝቡና ወደ እነርሱ ከምልክህ ከአሕዛብ አድንሃለሁ።

¹⁷delivering thee from the people, and the nations, to whom now I send thee,

¹⁹ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ ስለዚህ ከሰማይ የታየኝን ራእይ እምቢ አላልሁም።

¹⁸to open their eyes, to turn [them] from darkness to light, and [from] the authority of the Adversary unto God, for their receiving forgiveness of sins, and a lot among those having been sanctified, by faith that [is] toward me.

²⁰ነገር ግን አስቀድሜ በደማስቆ ላሉት በኢየሩሳሌምም በይሁዳም አገር ሁሉ ለአሕዛብም ንስሐ ይገቡ ዘንድና ለንስሐ የሚገባ ነገር እያደረጉ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ዘወር ይሉ ዘንድ ተናገርሁ።

¹⁹`Whereupon, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

²¹ስለዚህ አይሁድ በመቅደስ ያዙኝ ሊገድሉኝም ሞከሩ።

²⁰but to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem, to all the region also of Judea, and to the nations, I was preaching to reform, and to turn back unto God, doing works worthy of reformation;

²²ከእግዚአብሔርም ዘንድ ረድኤት ተቀብዬ ለታናሹም ለታላቁም ስመሰክር እስከዚች ቀን ድረስ ቆሜአለሁ፤ ነቢያትና ሙሴ ይሆን ዘንድ ያለውን፥ ክርስቶስ መከራን እንዲቀበል በሙታንም ትንሣኤ ለሕዝብና ለአሕዛብ ብርሃንን በመጀመሪያ ሊሰብክ እንዳለው፥ ከተናገሩት በቀር አንድ ስንኳ የተናገርሁት የለም።

²¹because of these things the Jews — having caught me in the temple — were endeavouring to kill [me].

²⁴እንዲህም ብሎ ስለ ራሱ ሲመልስ ፊስጦስ በታላቅ ድምፅ። ጳውሎስ ሆይ፥ አብድሃል እኮ፤ ብዙ ትምህርትህ ወደ እብደት ያዞርሃል አለው።

²²`Having obtained, therefore, help from God, till this day, I have stood witnessing both to small and to great, saying nothing besides the things that both the prophets and Moses spake of as about to come,

²⁵ጳውሎስ ግን እንዲህ አለ። ክቡር ፊስጦስ ሆይ፥ የእውነትንና የአእምሮን ነገር እናገራለሁ እንጂ እብደትስ የለብኝም።

²³that the Christ is to suffer, whether first by a rising from the dead, he is about to proclaim light to the people and to the nations.`

²⁶በእርሱ ፊት ደግሞ በግልጥ የምናገረው ንጉሥ ይህን ነገር ያውቃል፤ ከዚህ ነገር አንዳች እንዳይሰወርበት ተረድቼአለሁና፤ ይህ በስውር የተደረገ አይደለምና።

²⁴And, he thus making a defence, Festus with a loud voice said, `Thou art mad, Paul; much learning doth turn thee mad;`

²⁷ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ ነቢያትን ታምናለህን? እንድታምናቸው አውቃለሁ።

²⁵and he saith, `I am not mad, most noble Festus, but of truth and soberness the sayings I speak forth;

²⁸አግሪጳም ጳውሎስን። በጥቂት ክርስቲያን ልታደርገኝ ትወዳለህ አለው።

²⁶for the king doth know concerning these things, before whom also I speak boldly, for none of these things, I am persuaded, are hidden from him; for this thing hath not been done in a corner;

²⁹ጳውሎስም። በጥቂት ቢሆን ወይም በብዙ አንተ ብቻ አይደለህም ነገር ግን ዛሬ የሚሰሙኝ ሁሉ ደግሞ ከዚህ እስራቴ በቀር እንደ እኔ ይሆኑ ዘንድ ወደ እግዚአብሔር እለምናለሁ አለው።

²⁷thou dost believe, king Agrippa, the prophets? I have known that thou dost believe!`

³⁰ንጉሡም አገረ ገዡም በርኒቄም ከእነርሱም ጋር ተቀምጠው የነበሩት ተነሡ፥

²⁸And Agrippa said unto Paul, `In a little thou dost persuade me to become a Christian!`

³¹ፈቀቅ ብለውም እርስ በርሳቸው። ይህ ሰው እንኳንስ ለሞት ለእስራትም የሚገባ ምንም አላደረገ ብለው ተነጋገሩ።

²⁹and Paul said, `I would have wished to God, both in a little, and in much, not only thee, but also all those hearing me to-day, to become such as I also am — except these bonds.`

³²አግሪጳም ፈስጦስን። ይህ ሰው እኮ ወደ ቄሣር ይግባኝ ባይል ይፈታ ዘንድ ይቻል ነበር አለው።

³⁰And, he having spoken these things, the king rose up, and the governor, Bernice also, and those sitting with them,

³¹and having withdrawn, they were speaking unto one another, saying — `This man doth nothing worthy of death or of bonds;`

³²and Agrippa said to Festus, `This man might have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.`