26:1 So Agrippa 9 said to Paul, “You have permission 10 to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand 11 and began his defense: 12
26:24 As Paul 13 was saying these things in his defense, Festus 14 exclaimed loudly, “You have lost your mind, 15 Paul! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
1 tn Grk “And when.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
2 tn “Hurt unfairly” conveys a better sense of the seriousness of the offense against the Israelite than “treated unfairly,” which can sometimes refer to slight offenses, or “wronged,” which can refer to offenses that do not involve personal violence, as this one probably did.
3 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Or “he defended,” “he retaliated” (BDAG 55 s.v. ἀμύνομαι).
5 tn Grk “Paul saying in his defense”; the participle ἀπολογουμένου (apologoumenou) could be taken temporally (“when Paul said…”), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the participle was translated as a finite verb and a new sentence begun here in the translation. BDAG 116-17 s.v. ἀπολογέομαι has “W. ὅτι foll. τοῦ Παύλου ἀπολογουμένου, ὅτι when Paul said in his defense (direct quot. foll.) Ac 25:8.”
6 tn Grk “I have sinned…in nothing.”
7 tn Grk “against the law of the Jews.” Here τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων has been translated as an attributive genitive.
sn The Jewish law refers to the law of Moses.
8 tn Or “against the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).
sn Paul’s threefold claim to be innocent with respect to the law…the temple and Caesar argues that he has not disturbed the peace at any level. This was the standard charge made against early Christians (Luke 23:2; Acts 17:6-7). The charges here are emphatically denied, with the Greek conjunction oute repeated before each charge.
9 sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.
10 tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”
11 tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).
12 tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”
13 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 sn See the note on Porcius Festus in 24:27.
15 tn On the term translated “lost your mind” see BDAG 610 s.v. μαίνομαι, which has “you’re out of your mind, you’re raving, said to one whose enthusiasm seems to have outrun better judgment 26:24.”
sn The expression “You have lost your mind” would be said to someone who speaks incredible things, in the opinion of the hearer. Paul’s mention of the resurrection (v. 23) was probably what prompted Festus to say this.