Acts 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's followers. He went to the chief priest

and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found anyone who belonged to the Way — whether men or women — he could arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem.

As he got close to Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky blazed all around him.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you hunting me down?"

"Who are you, Lord?" he asked. "I am Jesus — the one you're hunting down," came the reply.

"Now get up and go into the city. You'll be told what you need to do."

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless — they heard the sound but couldn't see anyone.

Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

For three days he couldn't see, and he didn't eat or drink anything.

In Damascus there was a follower named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision: "Ananias!" "Yes, Lord," he answered.

The Lord told him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight. Ask at Judas's house for a man from Tarsus named Saul. Right now he's praying,

and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him to restore his sight."

"Lord," Ananias replied, "I've heard a lot of reports about this man — how much damage he's done to your set-apart people in Jerusalem.

And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest everyone who calls on your name."

But the Lord said to him, "Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to non-Jewish people, to kings, and to the people of Israel.

I will show him how much he will have to suffer for my name."

So Ananias went to the house, placed his hands on Saul, and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord — Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here — has sent me so that you can see again and be filled with the Breath of God."

Immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was submerged,

and after eating some food, he got his strength back. Saul spent several days with the followers in Damascus,

and immediately he began to declare in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

Everyone who heard him was stunned. "Isn't this the same man who caused havoc in Jerusalem for people who call on this name?" they asked. "And didn't he come here specifically to arrest them and drag them before the chief priests?"

But Saul only grew more powerful, and he kept debunking the arguments of the Jewish community in Damascus by demonstrating that Jesus was The One.

After quite a while, the Jewish leaders plotted to kill him,

but Saul found out about their plan. They were watching the city gates day and night to kill him,

but his followers took him at night and lowered him through an opening in the wall in a large basket.

When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the followers there, but they were all afraid of him — they didn't believe he had actually become a follower.

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus Saul had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

So Saul stayed with them, moving freely in and out of Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

He debated with the Greek-speaking Jewish community, but they were trying to kill him too.

When the other followers found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Then the gathered community throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria entered a season of peace. It was built up and grew in numbers, strengthened by living in reverent awe of the Lord and encouraged by the Breath of God.

As Peter traveled around the region, he went to visit the set-apart people living in Lydda.

There he found a man named Aeneas who had been bedridden for eight years — he was paralyzed.

"Aeneas," Peter said to him, "Jesus The One heals you. Get up and make your bed." And immediately he got up.

Everyone who lived in Lydda and the Sharon Plain saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

In Joppa there was a follower named Tabitha (which translates to Dorcas). She was always doing good and helping people who were poor.

Around that time she got sick and died. After washing her body, they placed her in an upstairs room.

Since Lydda was near Joppa, and the followers had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him with an urgent message: "Please come to us right away!"

Peter went with them, and when he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still alive.

Peter sent everyone out of the room, got on his knees, and prayed. Then he turned toward the body and said, "Tabitha, get up." She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.

He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Then he called the set-apart people and the widows and presented her to them alive.

News of this spread through all of Joppa, and many people put their trust in the Lord.

Peter stayed in Joppa for quite a while, living with a man named Simon who was a leatherworker.