Acts 22

¹'Men, brothers and fathers, hear now my defense which I now make to you.'

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said:

³I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the exactness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, just as all of you are today.

⁴I who persecuted this Way to the point of death, binding and handing over to prisons both men and women,

⁵as also the high priest bears witness to me, and all the council of elders. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was journeying there to bring even those who were there as prisoners to Jerusalem, in order that they might be punished.

⁶And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me.

⁷And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'

⁸And I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'

⁹Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one speaking to me.

¹⁰And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Rise and go to Damascus, and there it will be told to you concerning all things that have been appointed for you to do.'

¹¹And since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and I came to Damascus.

¹²And a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who dwelt there,

¹³He came to me and, standing beside me, said to me, 'Saul, brother, look up.' And at that very moment I looked up at him.

¹⁴And he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth.

¹⁵for you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now, why do you delay? Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'

¹⁷And it came to pass, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw him saying to me, 'Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹And I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that I was imprisoning and beating throughout the synagogues those who believed in you;

²⁰And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself was also standing by and approving, and I was watching over the garments of those who were killing him.'

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

²²The crowd was listening to him up to this word, and then they raised their voices and said, 'Away from the earth with such a man! For it is not fitting for him to live!'

²³And while they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and hurling dust into the air,

²⁴The commanding officer ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be examined by flogging, so that he might find out the reason they were crying out against him like that.

²⁵But as they stretched him forward with the straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, 'Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?'

²⁶And when the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and reported it, saying, 'Watch what you are about to do! For this man is a Roman.'

²⁷The commanding officer came and said to him, 'Tell me, are you a Roman?' And he said, 'Yes.'

²⁸The commanding officer answered, 'I acquired this citizenship for a large sum.' And Paul said, 'But I was born one.'

²⁹Immediately therefore those who were about to examine him withdrew from him, and the commanding officer was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman and that he had bound him.

³⁰But on the next day, wanting to know the certainty of what he was accused of by the Jews, he released him from his bonds and commanded the chief priests and all the council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.