Acts 22

1“Brothers and fathers, listen now to the defense I am making before you.”

2When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they grew even quieter. Then he went on: 3“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised here in this city. I sat at the feet of Gamaliel and was trained with great precision in our ancestral law. I was as zealous for God as every one of you is today. 4I persecuted this Way to the point of death, putting men and women alike in chains and handing them over to prison. 5The high priest himself can confirm this, and so can the whole council of elders. I even got letters from them to our fellow Jews in Damascus, and I set off to bring the people there back to Jerusalem in chains to be punished.

6As I was traveling and coming close to Damascus, at about midday, all at once a brilliant light from heaven blazed around me. 7I dropped to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ 8‘Who are you, Lord?’ I answered. He told me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.’ 9My companions saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me. 10I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus. There you will be told all that has been assigned for you to do.’ 11Because the glory of that light had left me unable to see, my companions led me by the hand, and I came into Damascus. 12There was a man named Ananias, devout in keeping the law and well regarded by all the Jews who lived there. 13He came and stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, see again!’ In that very moment my sight came back, and I looked up at him. 14Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you beforehand to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from his own mouth. 15You will be his witness to everyone, telling what you have seen and heard. 16Now why wait any longer? Get up and be baptized. Let your sins be washed away as you call on his name.’

17After I had come back to Jerusalem, I was praying in the temple when I fell into a trance. 18I saw the Lord, and he said to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem at once, for the people here will not accept what you tell them about me.’ 19I answered, ‘Lord, these people know well what I did. In one synagogue after another I had those who believe in you locked up and beaten. 20When Stephen, your witness, was put to death and his blood poured out, I was there myself. I agreed with what they did, and I looked after the cloaks of those who killed him.’ 21Then he told me, ‘Go! I am going to send you far away, to the Gentiles.’”

22The crowd heard him out until he said this. Then they raised a shout: “Take a man like this off the face of the earth! He should never have been allowed to live!” 23They kept yelling, flinging off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air. 24So the tribune ordered Paul taken into the barracks. He gave orders for him to be questioned under the whip, to find out why the people were shouting at him so. 25They had stretched him out and tied him with straps when Paul said to the centurion on duty, “Does the law allow you to flog a Roman citizen, and one who has had no trial?” 26When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and told him, “What is this you are about to do? This man is a Roman citizen!” 27The tribune came over and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said. 28The tribune replied, “It cost me a great deal of money to get this citizenship.” Paul answered, “And I am one by birth.” 29At once the men who were going to question him backed away. The tribune, too, grew afraid once he learned that Paul was a Roman citizen, since he had had him tied up.

30On the following day, since the tribune wanted to learn the true reason for the charges the Jews were bringing against Paul, he freed him from his chains. He summoned the chief priests and the full council, then brought Paul down and placed him in front of them.