1አግሪጳም ጳውሎስን። ስለ ራስህ ትናገር ዘንድ ተፈቅዶልሃል አለው። በዚያን ጊዜ ጳውሎስ እጁን ዘርግቶ መለሰ እንዲህ ሲል።
1And Agrippa said to Paul, It is permitted thee to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretching out his hand answered in his defence:
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።
2I count myself happy, king Agrippa, in having to answer to-day before thee concerning all of which I am accused by the Jews,
4ከመጀመሪያ አንሥቶ በሕዝቤ መካከል በኢየሩሳሌም የሆነውን፥ ከታናሽነቴ ጀምሬ የኖርሁትን ኑሮዬን አይሁድ ሁሉ ያውቃሉ፤
3especially because thou art acquainted with all the customs and questions which are among the Jews; wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently.
5ሊመሰክሩ ይወዱ እንደ ሆነ፥ በአምልኮአችን ከሁሉ ይልቅ ሕግን በመጠንቀቅ እንደሚተጋ ወገን ፈሪሳዊ ሆኜ እንደኖርሁ ከጥንት ጀምረው አውቀውኛልና።
4My manner of life then from my youth, which from its commencement was passed among my nation in Jerusalem, know all the Jews,
6አሁንም ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ ለአባቶቻችን ስለ ተሰጠው ስለ ተስፋ ቃል አለኝታ ልፋረድ ቆሜአለሁ።
5who knew me before from the outset [of my life], if they would bear witness, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
7ወደዚህም ወደ ተስፋ ቃል አሥራ ሁለቱ ወገኖቻችን ሌሊትና ቀን በትጋት እያመለኩ ይደርሱ ዘንድ አለኝታ አላቸው፤ ስለዚህም አለኝታ፥ ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ ከአይሁድ እከሰሳለሁ።
6And now I stand to be judged because of the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
8እግዚአብሔር ሙታንን የሚያስነሣ እንደ ሆነ ስለ ምን በእናንተ ዘንድ የማይታመን ነገር ሆኖ ይቈጠራል?
7to which our whole twelve tribes serving incessantly day and night hope to arrive; about which hope, O king, I am accused of [the] Jews.
9እኔም ራሴ የናዝሬቱን የኢየሱስን ስም የሚቃወም እጅግ ነገር አደርግ ዘንድ እንዲገባኝ ይመስለኝ ነበር።
8Why should it be judged a thing incredible in your sight if God raises the dead?
10ይህንም ደግሞ በኢየሩሳሌም አደረግሁት፤ ከካህናት አለቆችም ሥልጣን ተቀብዬ እኔ ከቅዱሳን ብዙዎችን በወኅኒ አሳሰርኋቸው፥ ሲገድሉአቸውም አብሬ ተቸሁ።
9*I* indeed myself thought that I ought to do much against the name of Jesus the Nazaraean.
11በምኵራብም ሁሉ ብዙ ጊዜ እየቀጣሁ ይሰድቡት ዘንድ ግድ አልኋቸው፤ ያለ ልክ ስቈጣባቸውም እስከ ውጭ አገር ከተማዎች ድረስ እንኳ አሳድድ ነበር።
10Which also I did in Jerusalem, and myself shut up in prisons many of the saints, having received the authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I gave my vote.
12ስለዚህም ነገ ከካህናት አለቆች ሥልጣንና ትእዛዝ ተቀብዬ ወደ ደማስቆ ስሄድ፥
11And often punishing them in all the synagogues, I compelled them to blaspheme. And, being exceedingly furious against them, I persecuted them even to cities out [of our own land].
13ንጉሥ ሆይ፥ በመንገድ ሳለሁ እኩል ቀን ሲሆን በዙሪያዬና ከእኔ ጋር በሄዱት ዙሪያ ከፀሐይ ብሩህነት የበለጠ ብርሃን ከሰማይ ሲበራ አየሁ፤
12And when, [engaged] in this, I was journeying to Damascus, with authority and power from the chief priests,
14ሁላችንም በምድር ላይ በወደቅን ጊዜ። ሳውል ሳውል፥ ስለ ምን ታሳድደኛለህ? የመውጊያውን ብረት ብትቃወም ለአንተ ይብስብሃል የሚል ድምፅ በዕብራይስጥ ቋንቋ ሲናገረኝ ሰማሁ።
13at mid-day, on the way, I saw, O king, a light above the brightness of the sun, shining from heaven round about me and those who were journeying with me.
15እኔም። ጌታ ሆይ፥ ማንነህ? አልሁ። እርሱም አለኝ። አንተ የምታሳድደኝ እኔ ኢየሱስ ነኝ።
14And, when we were all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? [it is] hard for thee to kick against goads.
16ነገር ግን ተነሣና በእግርህ ቁም፤ ስለዚህ እኔን ባየህበት ነገር ለአንተም በምታይበት ነገር አገልጋይና ምስክር ትሆን ዘንድ ልሾምህ ታይቼልሃለሁና።
15And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, *I* am Jesus whom *thou* persecutest:
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።
16but rise up and stand on thy feet; for, for this purpose have I appeared to thee, to appoint thee to be a servant and a witness both of what thou hast seen, and of what I shall appear to thee in,
19ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ ስለዚህ ከሰማይ የታየኝን ራእይ እምቢ አላልሁም።
17taking thee out from among the people, and the nations, to whom *I* send thee,
20ነገር ግን አስቀድሜ በደማስቆ ላሉት በኢየሩሳሌምም በይሁዳም አገር ሁሉ ለአሕዛብም ንስሐ ይገቡ ዘንድና ለንስሐ የሚገባ ነገር እያደረጉ ወደ እግዚአብሔር ዘወር ይሉ ዘንድ ተናገርሁ።
18to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in me.
21ስለዚህ አይሁድ በመቅደስ ያዙኝ ሊገድሉኝም ሞከሩ።
19Whereupon, king Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision;
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።
20but have, first to those both in Damascus and Jerusalem, and to all the region of Judaea, and to the nations, announced that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
24እንዲህም ብሎ ስለ ራሱ ሲመልስ ፊስጦስ በታላቅ ድምፅ። ጳውሎስ ሆይ፥ አብድሃል እኮ፤ ብዙ ትምህርትህ ወደ እብደት ያዞርሃል አለው።
21On account of these things the Jews, having seized me in the temple, attempted to lay hands on and destroy me.
25ጳውሎስ ግን እንዲህ አለ። ክቡር ፊስጦስ ሆይ፥ የእውነትንና የአእምሮን ነገር እናገራለሁ እንጂ እብደትስ የለብኝም።
22Having therefore met with [the] help which is from God, I have stood firm unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying nothing else than those things which both the prophets and Moses have said should happen,
26በእርሱ ፊት ደግሞ በግልጥ የምናገረው ንጉሥ ይህን ነገር ያውቃል፤ ከዚህ ነገር አንዳች እንዳይሰወርበት ተረድቼአለሁና፤ ይህ በስውር የተደረገ አይደለምና።
23[namely,] whether Christ should suffer; whether he first, through resurrection of [the] dead, should announce light both to the people and to the nations.
27ንጉሥ አግሪጳ ሆይ፥ ነቢያትን ታምናለህን? እንድታምናቸው አውቃለሁ።
24And as he answered for his defence with these things, Festus says with a loud voice, Thou art mad, Paul; much learning turns thee to madness.
28አግሪጳም ጳውሎስን። በጥቂት ክርስቲያን ልታደርገኝ ትወዳለህ አለው።
25But Paul said, I am not mad, most excellent Festus, but utter words of truth and soberness;
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።
26for the king is informed about these things, to whom also I speak with all freedom. For I am persuaded that of these things nothing is hidden from him; for this was not done in a corner.
30ንጉሡም አገረ ገዡም በርኒቄም ከእነርሱም ጋር ተቀምጠው የነበሩት ተነሡ፥
27King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest.
31ፈቀቅ ብለውም እርስ በርሳቸው። ይህ ሰው እንኳንስ ለሞት ለእስራትም የሚገባ ምንም አላደረገ ብለው ተነጋገሩ።
28And Agrippa [said] to Paul, In a little thou persuadest me to become a Christian.
32አግሪጳም ፈስጦስን። ይህ ሰው እኮ ወደ ቄሣር ይግባኝ ባይል ይፈታ ዘንድ ይቻል ነበር አለው።
29And Paul [said], I would to God, both in little and in much, that not only thou, but all who have heard me this day, should become such as *I* also am, except these bonds.
30And the king stood up, and the governor and Bernice, and those who sat with them,
31and having gone apart, they spoke to one another saying, This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds.
32And Agrippa said to Festus, This man might have been let go if he had not appealed to Caesar.