Acts 22

RKJNT^{(i) 1} Brethren, and fathers, hear my defence which I make to you now. ² And when they heard that he spoke in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept silent: and he said, ³ I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, and was zealous for God, as you all are this day. ⁴ And I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, ⁵ As the high priest and all the council of the elders can bear witness. For I received from them letters to the brethren, and I went to Damascus to take those who were there and bring them bound to Jerusalem, to be punished. ⁶ And it came to pass, that as I made my journey, and had come near to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light around me. ⁷ And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? ⁸ And I answered, Who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. ⁹ And those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. ¹⁰ And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told to you all things which are appointed for you to do. ¹¹ And since I could not see because of the glory of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. ¹² And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good reputation among all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ Came to me, and stood, and said to me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And that very hour I could see him. ¹⁴ And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will, and to see the Just One, and to hear the voice of his mouth. ¹⁵ For you shall be his witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ And now why do you delay? arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name. ¹⁷ And it came to pass, that when I had come again to Jerusalem, while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance; ¹⁸ And saw him saying to me, Make haste, and quickly get out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive your testimony concerning me. ¹⁹ And I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you: ²⁰ And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I was standing by, and consenting to his death, and kept the garments of those who killed him. ²¹ And he said to me, Depart: for I will send you far away to the Gentiles. ²² And until this word they listened to him, then they lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. ²³ And as they were crying out, and waving their garments, and throwing dust into the air, ²⁴ The commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and directed that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know why they cried out against him so. ²⁵ And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned? ²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, Take heed what you do: for this man is a Roman. ²⁷ Then the commander came, and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman? He said, Yes. ²⁸ And the commander answered, I obtained this citizenship with a great sum of money. And Paul said, But I was born a citizen. ²⁹ Then immediately those who would have examined him departed from him; and the commander was also afraid after he learned that he was a Roman and that he had bound him. ³⁰ On the next day, because he wanted to know exactly why he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.