Acts 21:30-22

New American Standard Bible

³⁰ Then the whole city was provoked and ^[a]the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they ^(A)dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹ While they were intent on killing him, a report came up to the commander of the ^(B)Roman ^[b]cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. ³² He immediately ^(C)took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to ^[c]the crowd; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³ Then the commander came up and took hold of him, and ordered that he be ^(D)bound with ^(E)two chains; and he began asking who he was and what he had done. ³⁴ But among the crowd, ^(F)some were shouting one thing and some another, and when he could not find out the ^[d]facts because of the uproar, he ordered that ^[e]Paul be brought into ^(G)the barracks. ³⁵ When Paul got to ^(H)the stairs, it came about that he was carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the ^[f]mob; ³⁶ for the multitude of people kept following them, shouting, “^(I)Away with him!”

³⁷ As Paul was about to be brought into ^(J)the barracks, he *said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? ³⁸ Then you are not ^(K)the Egyptian who some ^[g]time ago stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out ^(L)into the wilderness?” ³⁹ But Paul said, “^(M)I am a Jew of Tarsus in ^(N)Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; and I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰ When he had given him permission, Paul, standing on ^(O)the stairs, ^(P)motioned to the people with his hand; and when there ^[h]was a great silence, he spoke to them in the ^[i](Q)Hebrew dialect, saying,

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

22 “^(R)[j]Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^[k](S)Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³ “^(T)I am ^(U)a Jew, born in ^(V)Tarsus of ^(W)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^[l]under ^(X)Gamaliel, ^[m](Y)strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(Z)you all are today. ^4 (AA)I persecuted this ^(AB)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also ^(AC)the high priest and all ^(AD)the Council of the elders ^[n]can testify. From them I also ^(AE)received letters to ^(AF)the brothers, and started off for ^(AG)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^[o]as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ “^(AH)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all 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 ^(AI)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me ^(AJ)saw the light, but ^(AK)did not ^[p]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(AL)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(AM)could not see because of the ^[q]brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹² “Now a certain ^(AN)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and ^(AO)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘^(AP)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[r](AQ)at that very moment I looked up at him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘^(AR)The God of our fathers has ^(AS)appointed you to know His will and to ^(AT)see the ^(AU)Righteous One and to hear a ^[s]message from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(AV)a witness for Him to all people of ^(AW)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(AX)Get up and be baptized, and ^(AY)wash away your sins by ^(AZ)calling on His name.’

¹⁷ “It happened when I ^(BA)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(BB)fell into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^(BC)Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ ¹⁹ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^(BD)I used to imprison and ^(BE)beat those who believed in You. ²⁰ And ^(BF)when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ ²¹ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(BG)to the Gentiles.’”

²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(BH)Away with such a man from the earth, for ^(BI)he should not be allowed to live!” ²³ And as they were shouting and ^(BJ)throwing off their cloaks and ^(BK)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered that he be brought into ^(BL)the barracks, saying that he was to be ^(BM)interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵ But when they stretched him out ^[t]with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[u]lawful for you to flog ^(BN)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The commander came and said to ^[v]Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” ²⁹ Therefore, those who were about to ^(BO)interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also ^(BP)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^[w](BQ)put him in chains.

³⁰ Now on the next day, ^(BR)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he ^(BS)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(BT)the ^[x]Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.