The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 22
{22:1} "Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make
to you."
{22:2} When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language,
they were even more quiet. He said, {22:3} "I am indeed a Jew, born in
Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of
Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our
fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are this day. {22:4} I
persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons
both men and women. {22:5} As also the high priest and all the council
of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the
brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there
to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished. {22:6} It happened that, as I
made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly
there shone from the sky a great light around me. {22:7} I fell to the
ground, and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?' {22:8} I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' He said to
me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.'
{22:9} "Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid,
but they didn't understand the voice of him who spoke to me. {22:10} I
said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' The Lord said to me, 'Arise, and go
into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are
appointed for you to do.' {22:11} When I couldn't see for the glory of
that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came
into Damascus. {22:12} One Ananias, a devout man according to the law,
well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, {22:13} came
to me, and standing by me said to me, 'Brother Saul, receive your
sight!' In that very hour I looked up at him. {22:14} He said, 'The
God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the
Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. {22:15} For you
will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.
{22:16} Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your
sins, calling on the name of the Lord.'
{22:17} "It happened that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and
while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance, {22:18} and saw
him saying to me, 'Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because
they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.' {22:19} I
said, 'Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every
synagogue those who believed in you. {22:20} When the blood of
Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, and
consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed
him.'
{22:21} "He said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you out far from
here to the Gentiles.'"
{22:22} They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up
their voice, and said, "Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn't fit
to live!"
{22:23} As they cried out, and threw off their cloaks, and threw
dust into the air, {22:24} the commanding officer commanded him to be
brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging,
that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that.
{22:25} When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the
centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is
a Roman, and not found guilty?"
{22:26} When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding
officer and told him, "Watch what you are about to do, for this man is
a Roman!"
{22:27} The commanding officer came and asked him, "Tell me, are you
a Roman?"
He said, "Yes."
{22:28} The commanding officer answered, "I bought my citizenship
for a great price."
Paul said, "But I was born a Roman."
{22:29} Immediately those who were about to examine him departed
from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized
that he was a Roman, because he had bound him. {22:30} But on the next
day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Jews,
he freed him from the bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all
the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before
them.
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