4 "The Jews all know how I have lived ever since I was a child. They know all about me from the beginning of my life. They know how I lived in my own country and in Jerusalem.
5 They have known me for a long time. So if they wanted to, they could give witness that I lived by the rules of the Pharisees. Those rules are harder to obey than the rules of any other group in the Jewish faith.
6 "Today I am on trial because of the hope I have. I believe in what God promised our people long ago.
7 It is the promise that our 12 tribes are hoping to see come true. Because of this hope they serve God with a true and honest heart day and night. King Agrippa, it is also because of this hope that the Jews are bringing charges against me.
8 Why should any of you think it is impossible for God to raise the dead?
9 "I myself believed that I should do everything I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 That's just what I was doing in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests, I put many of God's people in prison. I agreed that they should die.