Acts 22–23

Chapter 22

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

¹“^aBrethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^1aHebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said,

³“^aI am ^ba Jew, born in ^cTarsus of ^dCilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ¹under ^eGamaliel, ^2fstrictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^gyou all are today.

⁴“^aI persecuted this ^bWay to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,

⁵as also ^athe high priest and all ^bthe Council of the elders ¹can testify. From them I also ^creceived letters to ^dthe brethren, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ²as prisoners to be punished.

⁶“^aBut it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me,

⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’

⁸“And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^aJesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’

⁹“And those who were with me ^asaw the light, to be sure, but ^bdid not ¹understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

¹⁰“And I said, ‘^aWhat shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’

¹¹“But since I ^acould not see because of the ¹brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

¹²“A certain ^aAnanias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and ^bwell spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,

¹³came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘^aBrother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^1bat that very time I looked up at him.

¹⁴“And he said, ‘^aThe God of our fathers has ^bappointed you to know His will and to ^csee the ^dRighteous One and to hear an ¹utterance from His mouth.

¹⁵‘For you will be ^aa witness for Him to all men of ^bwhat you have seen and heard.

¹⁶‘Now why do you delay? ^aGet up and be baptized, and ^bwash away your sins, ^ccalling on His name.’

¹⁷“It happened when I ^areturned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^bfell into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^aMake haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’

¹⁹“And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^aI used to imprison and ^bbeat those who believed in You.

²⁰‘And ^awhen the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’

²¹“And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^ato the Gentiles.’ ”

²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^aAway with such a fellow from the earth, for ^bhe should not be allowed to live!”

²³And as they were crying out and ^athrowing off their cloaks and ^btossing dust into the air,

²⁴the ¹commander ordered him to be brought into ^athe barracks, stating that he should be ^bexamined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.

²⁵But when they stretched him out ¹with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ²lawful for you to scourge ^aa man who is a Roman and uncondemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the ¹commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.”

²⁷The ¹commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.”

²⁸The ¹commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.”

²⁹Therefore those who were about to ^aexamine him immediately ¹let go of him; and the ²commander also ^bwas afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^3cput him in chains.

³⁰But on the next day, ^awishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he ^breleased him and ordered the chief priests and all ^cthe ¹Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

Chapter 23

Paul before the Council

¹Paul, looking intently at ^athe ¹Council, said, “^bBrethren, ^cI have ²lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.”

²The high priest ^aAnanias commanded those standing beside him ^bto strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^ayou whitewashed wall! Do you ^bsit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?”

⁴But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?”

⁵And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘^aYou shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”

⁶But perceiving that one group were ^aSadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^bthe ¹Council, “^cBrethren, ^dI am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^ethe hope and resurrection of the dead!”

⁷As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For ^athe Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

⁹And there occurred a great uproar; and some of ^athe scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^bWe find nothing wrong with this man; ^csuppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁰And as a great dissension was developing, the ¹commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^athe barracks.

¹¹But on ^athe night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “^bTake courage; for ^cas you have ^dsolemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”

A Conspiracy to Kill Paul

¹²When it was day, ^athe Jews formed a ¹conspiracy and ^bbound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

¹³There were more than forty who formed this plot.

¹⁴They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have ^abound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

¹⁵“Now therefore, you ¹and ^athe ²Council notify the ³commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

¹⁶But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, ¹and he came and entered ^athe barracks and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Lead this young man to the ¹commander, for he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he took him and led him to the ¹commander and said, “Paul ^athe prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The ¹commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?”

²⁰And he said, “^aThe Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to ^bthe ¹Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him.

²¹“So do not ¹listen to them, for more than forty of them are ^alying in wait for him who have ^bbound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.”

²²So the ¹commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

Paul Moved to Caesarea

²³And he called to him two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready by ¹the third hour of the night to proceed to ^aCaesarea, ²with seventy horsemen and two hundred ³spearmen.”

²⁴They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to ^aFelix the governor.

²⁵And he wrote a letter having this form:

²⁶“Claudius Lysias, to the ^amost excellent governor Felix, ^bgreetings.

²⁷“When this man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, ^aI came up to them with the troops and rescued him, ^bhaving learned that he was a Roman.

²⁸“And ^awanting to ascertain the charge for which they were accusing him, I ^bbrought him down to their ^1cCouncil;

²⁹and I found him to be accused over ^aquestions about their Law, but ¹under ^bno accusation deserving death or ²imprisonment.

³⁰“When I was ^ainformed that there would be ^ba plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, also instructing ^chis accusers to ¹bring charges against him before you.”

³¹So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.

³²But the next day, leaving ^athe horsemen to go on with him, they returned to ^bthe barracks.

³³When these had come to ^aCaesarea and delivered the letter to ^bthe governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴When he had read it, he asked from what ^aprovince he was, and when he learned that ^bhe was from Cilicia,

³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing after your ^aaccusers arrive also,” giving orders for him to be ^bkept in Herod’s ¹Praetorium.