Acts 26:1

Paul Offers His Defense

26:1 So Agrippa ¹  said to Paul, “You have permission ²  to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand ³  and began his defense: ⁴ 

Acts 26:14

26:14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ⁵  ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are hurting yourself ⁶  by kicking against the goads.’ ⁷ 

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¹ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

² tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”

³ tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).

⁴ tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”

⁵ tn Grk “in the Hebrew language.” See Acts 22:7 and 9:4.

⁶ tn Grk “It is hard for you.”

⁷ tn “Goads” are pointed sticks used to direct a draft animal (an idiom for stubborn resistance). See BDAG 539-40 s.v. κέντρον 2.

sn Sayings which contain the imagery used here (kicking against the goads) were also found in Greek writings; see Pindar, Pythians 2.94-96; Euripides, Bacchae 795.