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as both the high priest and the whole council of elders[a] can testify about me. From them[b] I also received[c] letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way[d] to make arrests there and bring[e] the prisoners[f] to Jerusalem[g] to be punished. As[h] I was en route and near Damascus,[i] about noon a very bright[j] light from heaven[k] suddenly flashed[l] around me. Then I[m] fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 22:5 tn That is, the whole Sanhedrin. BDAG 861 s.v. πρεσβυτέριον has “an administrative group concerned with the interests of a specific community, council of elders—a. of the highest Judean council in Jerusalem, in our lit. usu. called συνέδριονὁ ἀρχιερεύς καὶ πᾶν τὸ πρ. Ac 22:5.”
  2. Acts 22:5 tn Grk “from whom.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“whom”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“them”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.
  3. Acts 22:5 tn Grk “receiving.” The participle δεξάμενος (dexamenos) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
  4. Acts 22:5 tn Grk “letters to the brothers, [and] I was going to Damascus.” Such a translation, however, might be confusing since the term “brother” is frequently used of a fellow Christian. In this context, Paul is speaking about fellow Jews.
  5. Acts 22:5 tn Grk “even there and bring…” or “there and even bring…” The ascensive καί (kai) shows that Paul was fervent in his zeal against Christians, but it is difficult to translate for it really belongs with the entire idea of arresting and bringing back the prisoners.
  6. Acts 22:5 tn BDAG 221 s.v. δέω 1.b has “δεδεμένον ἄγειν τινά bring someone as prisonerAc 9:2, 21; 22:5.”
  7. Acts 22:5 tn Grk “I was going…to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners that they might be punished.”
  8. Acts 22:6 tn Grk “It happened that as.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
  9. Acts 22:6 tn Grk “going and nearing Damascus.”sn En route and near Damascus. This is the first retelling of Paul’s Damascus Road experience in Acts (cf. Acts 9:1-9; the second retelling is in Acts 26:9-20).
  10. Acts 22:6 tn BDAG 472 s.v. ἱκανός 3.b has “φῶς a very bright light Ac 22:6.”
  11. Acts 22:6 tn Or “from the sky” (the same Greek word means both “heaven” and “sky”).
  12. Acts 22:6 tn Or “shone.”
  13. Acts 22:7 tn This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek using the connective τέ (te), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence a new sentence was begun in the translation here. To indicate the logical sequence for the modern English reader, τέ was translated as “then.”