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The Acts of the Apostles 22

22 Paul said, “Jewish elders and my fellow Jews, please listen to me now while I answer your accusations.” 2 When the crowd of people heard Paul speaking to them in their own Hebrew language, they became even quieter and listened. Then Paul said to them, 3 “I am a Jew, as are all of you. I come from the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. When I was young, I learned the laws that Moses gave to our ancestors. Gamaliel was my teacher, and he taught me very accurately. I have obeyed those laws because I have wanted to obey God. I am sure that all of you here also obey those laws. 4 That is why I tried to arrest those who believed the message of God about Jesus. I even looked for ways to kill them. Whenever I found men or women who believed the message, I arrested them and had the authorities put them in jail. 5 The high priest knows this, and so do the other men who belong to our Jewish council. They gave me letters to take to their fellow Jews in the city of Damascus. Those letters gave me the power to go there and arrest people in that city who believed in Jesus. I could then take them as prisoners to Jerusalem so that the Jewish authorities could punish them.

6 So I went to Damascus. About noon, as I got near to Damascus, suddenly a bright light from the sky flashed all around me. 7 The light was so bright that I fell to the ground. Then I heard the voice of someone speaking to me from up in the sky. It said, ‘Saul! Saul! Stop doing things to hurt me!’ 8 And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He replied, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are hurting.’ 9 Now the men who were traveling with me saw the bright light, but they did not understand what the voice was saying to me. 10 Then I asked, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus. A man there will tell you all that I have planned for you to do.’ 11 After that, I could not see, because that bright light had caused me to become blind. So the men who were with me took me by the hand and led me to Damascus. 12 Then a man whose name was Ananias came to see me. He was a man who honored God and obeyed the Jewish laws. The Jews living in Damascus said very good things about him. 13 He came and stood beside me. He said to me, ‘Saul, my friend, see again!’ Instantly I could see and I saw him standing beside me. 14 Then he said: ‘The God whom we worship and whom our ancestors worshiped has chosen you for a special purpose. He will show you what he wants you to do. He has allowed you to see Jesus the Messiah, gloriously alive again. You have heard him speak to you himself. 15 He wants you to tell people everywhere what you have seen and heard from him. 16 So please do not delay! Let me baptize you right now. Pray to the Lord Jesus and ask God to forgive you for your sins!’ ”

17 “Then later I returned to Jerusalem. One day I went to the temple courtyard and while I was praying there, I saw a vision. 18 In my vision I saw Jesus as he said to me, ‘Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not believe what you tell them about me!’ 19 But I said to him, ‘Lord, they know that I went from one synagogue to another looking for people who believed in you. I was putting them in jail, and I was even beating them. 20 They remember that when people killed Stephen because he said you were the Messiah, I stood there watching and approving of what they were doing. I even guarded the outer clothes that those who were murdering him had thrown aside!’ 21 But Jesus said to me, ‘Leave Jerusalem, because I am going to send you far away from here to tell non-Jews about me!’ ”

22 The people listened to what Paul was saying until he talked about Jesus sending him to non-Jews. Then they began shouting, “Kill him! A man like him does not deserve to live any longer!” 23 And while they were shouting, they took off their robes and threw dirt into the air. 24 So the commander told his soldiers to take Paul into the fortress. He told them to whip Paul to make him admit what he had done that had made the Jews so angry with him. 25 Then they stretched his arms out and tied them so that they could whip him on his back. But Paul said to the officer near him, “You will be acting unlawfully if you whip me. I am a Roman citizen, and no one has declared me guilty of anything!” 26 When the officer heard that, he went to the commander and reported it to him. He said to the commander, “This man is a Roman citizen! Surely you would not command us to whip him!” 27 The commander was surprised when he heard that. He went into the prison and said to Paul, “Tell me, are you really a Roman citizen?” Paul answered, “Yes, I am.” 28 Then the commander said, “I too am a Roman citizen. I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.” But Paul said, “I have been a Roman citizen for my whole life.” 29 The soldiers were about to whip Paul and to ask him questions about what he had done. But when they heard what Paul said, they immediately backed away from him. The commander also became afraid. He knew that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had broken the law when he commanded the soldiers to tie up Paul’s hands.

30 The commander still wanted to know for sure why the Jews were accusing Paul. So the next day he told the soldiers to take the chains off Paul. He also called the chief priests and the other council members to meet. Then he brought Paul down the stairway to the temple courts. He took him to where the council was meeting and told him to stand in front of them.

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