Acts 22

¹ Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.

² When they heard him addressing them in Aramaic, they grew even quieter. Then he said:

³ "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city. I was trained at the feet of Gamaliel, taught the strict ways of the law of our fathers, and I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

⁴ I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,

⁵ as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I even obtained letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way there to bring these people back as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶ As I was traveling and getting close to Damascus about noon, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed all around me.

⁷ I 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, whom you are persecuting.'

⁹ Those with me saw the light but did not understand the voice of the one speaking to me.

¹⁰ Then I asked, 'What should I do, Lord?' The Lord told me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you have been appointed to do.'

¹¹ Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me led me by the hand into Damascus.

¹² A man named Ananias came to me. He was devout in keeping the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there.

¹³ He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And at that very moment I looked up and saw him.

¹⁴ Then he said: 'The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from his mouth.

¹⁵ You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶ And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'

¹⁷ When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸ and saw the Lord speaking to me. 'Hurry,' he said, 'leave Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹ And I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that I went from one synagogue to another, imprisoning and beating those who believed in you.

²⁰ And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself was standing there, giving my approval and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.'

²¹ Then he said to me, 'Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

²² They listened to him up to this word, and then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!"

²³ As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

²⁴ the commander ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks. He directed that he be questioned under the lash, to find out why the crowd was shouting at him like this.

²⁵ But as they stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who has not been found guilty?"

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are you about to do?" he said. "This man is a Roman citizen."

²⁷ The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.

²⁸ "I paid a large sum for my citizenship," the commander said. "But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.

²⁹ So those who were about to question him drew back at once. And the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

³⁰ The next day, wanting to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, the commander released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul down and stood him before them.