4 “All the Jews know how I lived the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem.
5 They’ve known me for a long time and can testify, if they’re willing, that I followed the strictest party of our religion. They know that I lived my life as a Pharisee.
6 “I’m on trial now because I expect God to keep the promise that he made to our ancestors.
7 Our twelve tribes expect this promise to be kept as they worship with intense devotion day and night. Your Majesty, the Jews are making accusations against me because I expect God to keep his promise.
8 Why do all of you refuse to believe that God can bring dead people back to life?
9 “I used to think that I had to do a lot of things to oppose the one named Jesus of Nazareth.
10 That is what I did in Jerusalem. By the authority I received from the chief priests, I locked many Christians in prison. I voted to have them killed every time a vote was taken.