Acts 26:5 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition) They know of my early background; if they were willing to, they could testify that I lived as a [faithful] Pharisee, [which is] the strictest sect of our religion. More versionsKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition They have had knowledge of me for a long time, if they are willing to testify to it, that in accordance with the strictest sect of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. American Standard Version (1901) having knowledge of me from the first, if they be willing to testify, that after the straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. Common English Bible They have known me for a long time. If they wanted to, they could testify that I followed the way of life set out by the most exacting group of our religion. I am a Pharisee. Catholic Public Domain Version They knew me well from the beginning, (if they would be willing to offer testimony) for I lived according to the most determined sect of our religion: as a Pharisee. Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version Having known me from the beginning (if they will give testimony) that according to the most sure sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. |
But certain believers, [who had been] members of the sect called Pharisees [i.e., a strict sect of the Jewish religion], began saying, “It is necessary to circumcise people [see verse 1] and require them to keep [the ordinances of] the Law of Moses.”
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, in Cilicia, but raised [here] in this city [i.e., Jerusalem]. [I was] instructed by Gamaliel [i.e., a renowned Jewish rabbi of the time] according to the strictest methods of observing the law of our forefathers. [I was very] eager to serve God, just as all of you are here today.
The head priest can also verify all this, and so can the body of [Jewish] elders. They furnished me with letters to our fellow-Jews in Damascus, to which I also traveled to bring people back here to Jerusalem, bound in chains to be punished.
When Paul realized that part [of the Sanhedrin] were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he lifted up his voice before the Council and said, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. And it is concerning our hope that the dead will be raised that I have been brought to trial.”
But, I declare to you, I am serving the God of our forefathers according to the ‘Way,’ called [by my detractors] a sect, and I believe everything that is in harmony with the Law of Moses and what is written in [the writings of] the prophets.
We have found this man [i.e., Paul] to be extremely bothersome, and an instigator of strife among the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.