Acts 26:9–18

⁹“So then, ^aI thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to ^bthe name of Jesus the Nazarene.

¹⁰“And this is ¹just what I ^adid in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the ²saints in prisons, having ^breceived authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death I ^ccast my vote against them.

¹¹“And ^aas I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being ^bfuriously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them ^ceven to ¹foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹²“¹While so engaged ^aas I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,

¹³at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, ¹brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.

¹⁴“And when we had ^aall fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the ^1bHebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ²It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵“And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

¹⁶‘But rise up and ^astand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to ^bappoint you a ^cservant and ^da witness not only to the things which you have ¹seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you;

^17arescuing you ^bfrom the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,

¹⁸to ^aopen their eyes so that they may turn from ^bdarkness to light and from the authority of ^cSatan to God, that they may receive ^dforgiveness of sins and an ^einheritance among those who have been sanctified by ^ffaith in Me.’