Paul's Roman Citizenship

22 The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement, but then they lifted up their voices and said, “Away with this man from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” 23 As they were crying out, throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered Paul to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out the reason why they were shouting at him in this way. 25 But [fn]as one of the soldiers was stretching Paul out with the straps, Paul said to the centurion standing nearby, “Is it lawful for you to whip a Roman citizen without a proper trial?” 26 When the centurion heard this, he went and reported it to the commander, saying, “[fn]Consider what yoʋ are about to do, for this man is a Roman citizen.” 27 So the commander went over and said to Paul, “Tell me, are yoʋ a Roman citizen?” He said, “Yes.” 28 The commander responded, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 29 So those who were about to examine him immediately drew back, and the commander was afraid when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.