⁹“I myself believed that I should do everything I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰That’s just what I was doing in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests, I put many of God’s people in prison. I agreed that they should die. ¹¹I often went from one synagogue to another to have them punished. I tried to force them to speak evil things against Jesus. I hated them so much that I even went to cities in other lands to hurt them.

¹²“On one of these journeys I was on my way to Damascus. I had the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³About noon, King Agrippa, I was on the road. I saw a light coming from heaven. It was brighter than the sun. It was shining around me and my companions. ¹⁴We all fell to the ground. I heard a voice speak to me in the Aramaic language. ‘Saul! Saul!’ it said. ‘Why are you opposing me? It is hard for you to go against what you know is right.’

¹⁵“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“ ‘I am Jesus,’ the Lord replied. ‘I am the one you are opposing. ¹⁶Now get up. Stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve me and be my witness. You will tell others that you have seen me today. You will also tell them that I will show myself to you again.

¹⁷“ ‘I will save you from your own people and from those who aren’t Jews. I am sending you to them ¹⁸to open their eyes. I want you to turn them from darkness to light. I want you to turn them from Satan’s power to God. I want their sins to be forgiven. They will be forgiven when they believe in me. They will have their place among God’s people.’

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