Acts 22

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense I now present to you.”

²When they heard that he was addressing them in the Aramaic dialect, they became even more quiet. Then he said: ³“I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. I was trained with strict precision in our ancestral law, being a zealot for God just as all of you are today. ⁴I persecuted this Way to the point of death, binding and handing over both men and women to prisons, ⁵as even the high priest and the whole Council of Elders can testify for me. I even received letters from them to our brothers in Damascus and was traveling there to bring those who were there back to Jerusalem in chains so they could be punished.

⁶As I was traveling and approaching Damascus about noon, suddenly a massive light from heaven flashed all around me. ⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ and he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹Those who were with me saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of the one speaking to me. ¹⁰I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹Since I could not see because of the radiance of that light, I was led by the hand by my companions and came into Damascus.

¹²A man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law and well-regarded by all the Jews living there, ¹³came to me and, standing over me, said, ‘Saul, brother, recover your sight!’ And in that very hour, I looked up and saw him. ¹⁴Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers handpicked you to know his will, to see the Just One, and to hear a voice from his own mouth, ¹⁵because you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶And now, why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

¹⁷After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ ¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in synagogue after synagogue I was the one imprisoning and beating those who believe in you. ²⁰And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving, even guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ ²¹But he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the nations.’”

²²They listened to him until he said this word, then they raised their voices, shouting, “Remove such a man from the earth! For he is not fit to live!” ²³As they were screaming and shaking out their cloaks and throwing dust into the air, ²⁴the Tribune ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks, saying he should be interrogated under the lash so he could find out the reason they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵But as they stretched him out for the straps, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and has not even been condemned?”

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the Tribune and reported it, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷So the Tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.” ²⁸The Tribune replied, “I acquired this citizenship for a very large sum of money.” But Paul said, “I was actually born into it.” ²⁹Immediately those who were about to interrogate him backed away from him. Even the Tribune was afraid when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.

³⁰The next day, wanting to know the exact truth of why he was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.