Matendo 26
1 Hivyo, Agripa akamwambia Paulo, `Unaruhusiwa kujitetea. ' Ndipo Paulo akanyoosha mkono wake akajitetea hivi.
Turning to Paul, Agrippa said, “You are at liberty to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense.
2 “Najiona mwenye furaha, Mfalme Agripa, ili kufanya kesi yangu mbele yako leo dhidi ya mashtaka yote ya Wayahudi.
“I have been congratulating myself, King Agrippa,” he said, “that it is before you that I have to make my defense today, with regard to all the charges brought against me by my own people,
3 Hasa, kwa sababu wewe ni mtaalamu wa desturi za Wayahudi na maswali. Hivyo naomba unisikilize kwa uvumilivu.
especially as you are so well-versed in all the customs and questions of the Jewish world. I beg you therefore to give me a patient hearing.
4 Kweli, Wayahudi wote wanajua jinsi nilivyoishi tangu ujana wangu katika taifa langu huko Yerusalemu.
My life, then, from youth upwards, was passed, from the very first, among my own nation, and in Jerusalem, and is within the knowledge of all Jews;
5 Wananijua tangu mwanzo na wanapaswa kukubali kwamba niliishi kama Mfarisayo, dhehebu lenye msimamo mkali kwenye dini yetu.
and they have always known – if they choose to give evidence – that, in accordance with the very strictest form of our religion, I lived a true Pharisee.
6 Sasa nimesimama hapa nihukumiwe kwa sababu mimi naliangalia ahadi ambayo Mungu aliifanya na baba zetu.
Even now, it is because of my hope in the promise given by God to our ancestors that I stand here on my trial –
7 Hii ni ahadi ambayo makabila yetu kumi na mbili yanatumaini kupokea kama wakimwabudu Mungu kwa bidii usiku na mchana. Ni kwa ajili ya tumaini hili, mfalme Agripa, kwamba Wayahudi wananishitaki.
A promise which our twelve tribes, by earnest service night and day, hope to see fulfilled. It is for this hope, your Majesty, that I am accused – and by Jews themselves!
8 Kwa nini yeyote kati yenu anafikiri ni ajabu kwamba Mungu hufufua wafu?
Why do you all hold it incredible that God should raise the dead?
9 Wakati mmoja nilifikiria mwenyewe kwamba ningefanya mambo mengi dhidi ya jina la Yesu wa Nazareti.
I myself, it is true, once thought it my duty to oppose in every way the name of Jesus of Nazareth;
10 Nilifanya haya katika Yerusalemu; Niliwafunga waamini wengi gerezani, na nilikuwa na mamlaka kutoka kwa wakuu wa makuhani kufanya hivyo; na wakati wanauawa, nilipiga kura dhidi yao.
and I actually did so at Jerusalem. Acting on the authority of the chief priests, I myself threw many of the people of Christ into prison, and, when it was proposed to put them to death, I gave my vote for it.
11 Mara nyingi niliwaadhibu katika masinagogi yote na nilijaribu kuwafanya waikane imani yao. Nilikuwa na hasira sana juu yao na niliwafukuza hata katika miji ya ugenini.
Time after time, in every synagogue, I tried by punishments to force them to blaspheme. So frantic was I against them, that I pursued them even to towns beyond our borders.
12 Wakati nilipokuwa nikifanya haya, nilienda Dameski, nikiwa na mamlaka na maagizo kutoka kwa makuhani wakuu;
It was while I was traveling to Damascus on an errand of this kind, entrusted with full powers by the chief priests,
13 nilipokuwa njiani wakati wa mchana, Mfalme, niliona mwanga kutoka mbinguni uliokuwa mkali kuliko jua na uling'aa kutuzunguka mimi na watu waliokuwa wakisafiri pamoja nami.
that at midday, your Majesty, I saw right in my path, coming from the heavens, a light brighter than the glare of the sun, which shone all around me and those traveling with me.
14 Sisi sote tulipoanguka chini, nalisikia sauti ikizungumza na mimi ikisema katika lugha ya Kiebrania: `Sauli, Sauli! Kwa nini unanitesa? Ni vigumu kwako kuupiga teke mchokoo.
We all fell to the ground, and then I heard a voice saying to me in Hebrew – ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? By kicking against the goad you are punishing yourself.’
15 Ndipo nikasema, 'Wewe ni nani, Bwana?' Bwana akajibu, 'Mimi ni Yesu ambaye unanitesa.
‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;
16 Sasa inuka usimame kwa miguu yako; sababu kwa kusudi hili mimi nimeonekana kwako, nimekuteua kuwa mtumishi na shahidi juu ya mambo ambayo unajua kuhusu mimi sasa na mambo nitakayokuonyesha baadaye;
but get up and stand upright; for I have appeared to you in order to appoint you a servant and a witness of those revelations of me which you have already had, and of those in which I will yet appear to you,
17 na Nitakuokoa kutoka kwa watu na watu wa Mataifa ambapo ninakutuma,
since I am choosing you out from your own people and from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you,
18 kufungua macho yao na kuwatoa gizani kwenda kwenye mwanga na kutoka kwenye nguvu za shetani wamgeukie Mungu; ili wapate kupokea kutoka kwa Mungu msamaha wa dhambi na urithi ambao nimewapa wale niliowatenga kwa imani iliyo kwangu.
to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God; so that they may receive pardon for their sins, and a place among those who have become God’s people, by faith in me.’
19 Hivyo, mfalme Agripa, sikuweza kuasi maono ya mbinguni,
After that, King Agrippa, I did not fail to obey the heavenly vision;
20 lakini, kwa wale walio katika Dameski kwanza, na kisha Yerusalemu na nchi yote ya Yudea, na pia kwa watu wa mataifa mengine, nilihubiri kwamba watubu na kumgeukia Mungu, wafanye matendo yanayostahili toba.
on the contrary, first to those at Damascus and Jerusalem, and then through the whole of Judea, and to the Gentiles as well, I began to preach repentance and conversion to God, and a life befitting that repentance.
21 Kwa sababu hiyo Wayahudi walinikamata hekaluni, wakajaribu kuniua.
This is why some men seized me in the Temple, and made attempts on my life.
22 Mungu amenisaidia mpaka sasa, hivyo nasimama na kushuhudia kwa watu wa kawaida na kwa wale wakubwa juu ya yale ambayo manabii na Musa walisema yatatokea na si vingine;
However I have received help from God to this very day, and so stand here, and bear my testimony to high and low alike – without adding a word to what the prophets, as well as Moses, declared should happen –
23 kwamba Kristo lazima atateseka na atakuwa wa kwanza kufufuka kutoka kwa wafu na kutangaza mwanga kwa Wayahudi na watu wa mataifa.
That the Christ must suffer, and that, by rising from the dead, he was destined to be the first to bring news of light, not only to our nation, but also to the Gentiles.”
24 Paulo alipomaliza kujitetea, Festo alisema kwa sauti kubwa, 'Paulo, wewe ni mwendawazimu! masomo yako yamekufanya uwe mwendawazimu.
While Paul was making this defense, Festus called out loudly, “You are mad, Paul; your great learning is driving you mad.”
25 Lakini Paulo akasema, Mimi si mwendawazimu, mheshimiwa Festo; lakini kwa ujasiri nasema maneno ya ukweli mtupu.
“I am not mad, your Excellency,” he replied. “On the contrary, the statements that I am making are true and sober.
26 Kwa kuwa mfalme anajua kuhusu mambo haya; na hivyo, ninaongea kwa uhuru kwake, kwa maana nina hakika kwamba hakuna lolote lililofichwa kwake; kwa kuwa hili halijafanywa pembeni.
Indeed, the king knows about these matters, so I speak before him without constraint. I am sure that there is nothing whatever of what I have been telling him that has escaped his attention; for all this has not been done in a corner.
27 Je, unaamini manabii, Mfalme Agripa? Najua kwamba unaamini. '
King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”
28 Agripa akamwambia Paulo, 'Kwa muda mfupi unaweza kunishawishi mimi na kunifanya Mkristo?
But Agrippa said to Paul, “You are soon trying to make a Christian of me!”
29 Paulo akasema, '“Namwomba Mungu kwamba, kwa muda mfupi au mrefu, si wewe tu, bali pia wote wanaonisikia leo, wawe kama mimi, lakini bila hii minyororo ya gerezani.”
“Whether it is soon or late,” answered Paul, “I pray to God that not only you, but all who are listening to me, might today become just what I am myself – except for these chains!”
30 Ndipo mfalme alisimama, na liwali, na Bernike pia, na wale waliokuwa wamekaa pamoja nao,
Then the king rose, with the Governor and Bernice and those who had been sitting with them,
31 walipoondoka ukumbini, walizungumzia wao kwa wao na kusema, 'Mtu huyu hastahili kifo wala kifungo.'
and, after retiring, discussed the case among themselves. “There is nothing,” they said, “deserving death or imprisonment in this man’s conduct”;
32 Agripa akamwambia Festo, “Mtu huyu angeweza kuwekwa huru kama asingekata rufani kwa Kaisari.”
and, speaking to Festus, Agrippa added, “The man might have been discharged, if he had not appealed to the Emperor.”
