Acts 22

22“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” ²When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic,^B they became even quieter.^{g 3}He^h continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamalielⁱ according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.^{j 4}I persecuted this Way^k to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail,^{l 5}as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.^m

PAUL’S TESTIMONY

⁶“Asⁿ I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

⁸“I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ ⁹Now those who were with me saw the light,^A but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.^o

¹⁰“I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’

“The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹“Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light,^B I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus.^{p 12}Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,^{q 13}came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. ¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed^r you to know his will, to see^s the Righteous One,^t and to hear the words from his mouth, ¹⁵since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.^{u 16}And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins,^v calling on his name.’^w

¹⁷“After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance^{x 18}and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten.^{y 20}And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval^C and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’^z

²¹“He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”^aa

PAUL’S ROMAN PROTECTION

²²They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live!”^ab

²³As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air,^{ac 24}the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned?”^a

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” he said.

²⁸The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul said.

²⁹So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.^b

PAUL BEFORE THE SANHEDRIN

³⁰The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him^A and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene.^c He brought Paul down and placed him before them.