New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Acts chapter 22

“Brothers and fathers, hear me out as I give you my right now.”When they heard him speaking to them in , they got even quieter. Then he said:“I’m a Jewish man, born in in Cilicia, but I grew up right here in this city. I studied under , trained thoroughly in the strict traditions of our ancestors’ , and I was just as as all of you are today.I hunted down people who followed and had them killed. I arrested both men and women and threw them in prison.The high priest himself can confirm this, along with the entire . They even gave me letters authorizing me to go to our Jewish brothers in . I was on my way there to arrest these people and drag them back to Jerusalem in chains to be punished.“But here’s what happened: Around noon, as I was getting close to Damascus, suddenly an blazed all around me.I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘, Saul, why are you ?’I answered, ‘Who are you, ?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus from — the one you’re working against.’The people with me saw the light, but they couldn’t make out the voice speaking to me.I said, ‘What should I do, Master?’ And the Master told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus. There you’ll be told everything that’s been to do.’Because the brilliance of that light had blinded me, my companions had to lead me by the hand into Damascus.“A man named came to see me. He was deeply , and all the Jewish people living there respected him.He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And right then, I could see him standing there.Then he said, ‘The has you to understand his plan, to see face to face, and to hear words straight from his mouth.Because you’re going to be his to everyone — telling all people what you’ve seen and heard.So what are you waiting for? Get up, be , and have your by .’“After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the , I fell into a and I saw the Master saying to me, ‘Hurry! Get out of Jerusalem right now, because they won’t accept your testimony about me here.’I said, ‘Master, they know that I used to go from one to another, arresting and beating anyone who .And when your was killed, I was standing right there giving my approval, even holding the coats of the people who murdered him.’“Then the Master said to me, ‘Go. I’m sending you far away — to the .’”The crowd listened to Paul up to this point. But then they started screaming, “Get rid of him! Kill him! He doesn’t deserve to live!”They were shouting, , and .The ordered Paul brought into the . He directed that Paul be to find out why the crowd was so enraged against him.But as they were stretching him out and tying him down to be whipped, Paul said to the officer standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a who hasn’t even been found guilty of anything?”When the officer heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it. “Watch out — what are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen!”The commanding officer came to Paul and asked, “Tell me — are you really a Roman citizen?” Paul said, “Yes, I am.”The commanding officer said, “I to get my citizenship.” Paul replied, “Well, I was .”Immediately, the men who were about to interrogate him backed away. And the commanding officer himself was when he realized he had put a Roman citizen in chains.The next day, wanting to get to the bottom of exactly what the Jewish leaders were accusing Paul of, the commanding officer released him from his chains. He ordered the and the entire to assemble, then brought Paul down and stood him before them.