Acts 22

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.” ²When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, ^a they became even quieter. ^{b 3}He ^c continued, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel ^d according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. ^{e 4}I persecuted this Way ^f to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail, ^{g 5}as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished. ^h

Paul’s Testimony

⁶“As ⁱ I was traveling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷I 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, the one you are persecuting.’ ⁹Now those who were with me saw the light, ^j but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ^k

¹⁰“I said, ‘What should I do, Lord? ’

“The Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.’

¹¹“Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light, ^l I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus. ^{m 12}Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there, ^{n 13}came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. ¹⁴And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed ^o you to know his will, to see ^p the Righteous One, ^q and to hear the words from his mouth, ¹⁵since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard. ^{r 16}And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, ^s calling on his name.’ ^t

¹⁷“After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance ^{u 18}and saw him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹“But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten. ^{v 20}And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval ^w and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.’ ^x

²¹“He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” ^y

Paul’s Roman Protection

²²They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live! ” ^z

²³As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air, ^{aa 24}the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned? ” ^ab

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, “What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? ”

“Yes,” he said.

²⁸The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.”

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

²⁹So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realized Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him. ^ac

Paul before the Sanhedrin

³⁰The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him ^ad and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. ^ae He brought Paul down and placed him before them.