¹⁷ “When I returned to Jerusalem^(A) and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance^{(B) 18} and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

¹⁹ “‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison^(C) and beat^(D) those who believe in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of your martyr^[a] Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’^(E)

²¹ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”^(F)

Paul the Roman Citizen

²² The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him!^(G) He’s not fit to live!”^(H)

²³ As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks^(I) and flinging dust into the air,^{(J) 24} the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.^(K) He directed^(L) that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. ²⁵ As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”^(M)

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you going to do?” he asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

²⁷ The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes, I am,” he answered.

²⁸ Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

²⁹ Those who were about to interrogate him^(N) withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen,^(O) in chains.^(P)