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!^(A) He’s not fit to live!”^(B)

²³ As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks^(C) and flinging dust into the air,^{(D) 24} the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.^(E) He directed^(F) 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?”^(G)

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^(H) withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen,^(I) in chains.^(J)

Paul Before the Sanhedrin

³⁰ The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews.^(K) So the next day he released him^(L) and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin^(M) to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.