Paul’s Post-Conversion Life

¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,

The Damascus Road: Saul Converted^(A)

9 Then ^(B)Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked ^(C)letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

^3 (D)As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. ⁴ Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, ^(E)why are you persecuting Me?”

⁵ And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ^[a]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

⁶ So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷ And ^(F)the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. ⁸ Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for ^(A)he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before ^(B)Gentiles, ^(C)kings, and the ^(D)children^[a] of Israel. ¹⁶ For ^(E)I will show him how many things he must suffer for My ^(F)name’s sake.”

²³ Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: ^(A)in labors more abundant, ^(B)in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, ^(C)in deaths often. ²⁴ From the Jews five times I received ^(D)forty ^(E)stripes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(F)beaten with rods; ^(G)once I was stoned; three times I ^(H)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, ^(I)in perils of my own countrymen, ^(J)in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷ in weariness and toil, ^(K)in sleeplessness often, ^(L)in hunger and thirst, in ^(M)fastings often, in cold and nakedness— ²⁸ besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: ^(N)my deep concern for all the churches.

⁹ and when James, ^[a]Cephas, and John, who seemed to be ^(A)pillars, perceived ^(B)the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, ^(C)that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ They desired only that we should remember the poor, ^(D)the very thing which I also was eager to do.