“Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews.”
'This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O King, it is because of this hope that I am being accused by the Jews. - The 'twelve tribes' (dōdeka phylai, dōdeka phylai) represent all Israel, unified in an 'earnest' (ektenēs, ektenēs-'intense, stretched out') service 'day and night' (nykta kai hēmeran, nykta kai hēmeran). Their hope and Paul's are one. His accusation, therefore, is paradoxical: the Jews prosecute him for believing what they themselves expect-the fulfillment of God's promise to Israel. He frames his imprisonment as itself fulfilling the promise (through witnessing to it before the Gentile world).
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