Open English Translation ACTs Chapter 22

6 “But one time as I was travelling and getting close to Damascus by the middle of the day, suddenly a bright light from the sky began to flash around me 7 and I fell to the ground. I heard a voice asking me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8 ‘Who are you, master?’ I answered. And the voice said, ‘I am Yeshua—the one from Nazareth that you are persecuting.’ 9 The other people with me saw the light but didn’t hear the voice that spoke to me. 10 Then I asked, ‘What do I need to do, master?’ ‘Get up and continue into Damascus,’ the master said. ‘When you get there, you’ll be told everything that you’ve been assigned to do.’ 11 But I couldn’t see anything because the brightness of the light had affected my eyes, so my companions had to lead me by hand into Damascus.

12 “In Damascus there was a man named Ananias—a non-Jew but who was respected by the Jews there because he strove to obey Moses’ instructions about living. 13 Ananias came to where I was and standing by me said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight?” That very hour I was able to see again and look at him 14 and he said, ‘The god of our ancestors has decided in advance to reveal his plans to you, and for you to see the sinless one—to hear him speaking 15 because he wants you to inform people everywhere what you’ve seen and heard. 16 So what else are you waiting for? Get up and wash away your sins by getting immersed in water as you request his forgiveness.’

17 “Then when I returned to Yerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw the master telling me, ‘Get out of Yerusalem in a hurry because they won’t accept what you’re teaching them about me.’ 19 ‘Master,’ I replied, ‘they know that previously I was the one imprisoning and beating the people who believed in you, 20 and when Stephen was killed after teaching about you, it was me standing there and cheering on the ones executing him as I held their coats for them.’ 21 Then the master told me, ‘Get going now because I’m sending you away to the non-Jews.’ ”

22 Until this point in his message, the crowd had been listening to Paul, but now they started shouting, “Do away with this man! He doesn’t deserve to live in this world!” 23 Then they yelled and threw some of their clothes down onto the ground and threw dust up into the air. 24 So the commander ordered Paul to be brought inside into barracks and ordered that he be flogged and interrogated to determine what he’d done that would make the crowd react like that. 25 But as they strapped him down and stretched him out for the flogging, Paul asked the centurion standing there, “It is legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been tried?”

26 When he heard that, the centurion went to the commander and reported, “How are we going to handle this, because this man is a Roman citizen?”

27 So the commander went in to where Paul was and asked him, “Tell me the truth. Are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes I am,” said Paul.

28 “Yeah, and I paid a lot for mine as well,” mocked the commander.

“Actually mine is through birth,” Paul responded.

29 At this point, the soldiers who were about to interrogate Paul left the room, and even the commander was now afraid after learning that he had had a Roman citizen tied down to be flogged.

30 The next day, the Roman commander still wanted to know what was behind the anger of the Jews, so he had Paul released from the cell, but brought him down to a room where he had ordered the chief priests and the Jewish council to convene. Paul was given a seat