Acts 22:1–30

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” ²When they heard him speak to them in Hebrew,^a they became even more quiet.

Then Paul declared, ³“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

⁴I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison, ⁵as the high priest and the whole Council can testify about me. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to apprehend these people and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶About noon as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. ⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’

⁸‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked.

‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ He replied. ⁹My companions saw the light, but they could not understand the voice of the One speaking to me.

¹⁰Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’

‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’

¹¹Because the brilliance of the light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus. ¹²There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the law who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there, ¹³came and stood beside me. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘receive your sight.’ And at that moment I could see him.

¹⁴Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear His voice. ¹⁵You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’

¹⁷Later, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸and saw the Lord^b saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’

¹⁹‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You. ²⁰And when the blood of Your witness^c Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

²¹Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

²²The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they lifted up their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!”

²³As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, ²⁴the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.

²⁵But as they stretched him out to strap him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”

²⁶On hearing this, the centurion went and reported it to the commander. “What are you going to do?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” he answered.

²⁸“I paid a high price for my citizenship,” said the commander.

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

²⁹At once those who were about to interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

³⁰The next day the commander, wanting to learn the real reason Paul was accused by the Jews, released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin^d to assemble. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.