Acts 22:22-23:11

New American Standard Bible 1995

²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(A)Away with such a fellow from the earth, for ^(B)he should not be allowed to live!” ²³ And as they were crying out and ^(C)throwing off their cloaks and ^(D)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the ^[a]commander ordered him to be brought into ^(E)the barracks, stating that he should be ^(F)examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵ But when they stretched him out ^[b]with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[c]lawful for you to scourge ^(G)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the ^[d]commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The ^[e]commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The ^[f]commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” ²⁹ Therefore those who were about to ^(H)examine him immediately ^[g]let go of him; and the ^[h]commander also ^(I)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^[i](J)put him in chains.

³⁰ But on the next day, ^(K)wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he ^(L)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(M)the ^[j]Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

Paul before the Council

23 Paul, looking intently at ^(N)the ^[k]Council, said, “^(O)Brethren, ^(P)I have ^[l]lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” ² The high priest ^(Q)Ananias commanded those standing beside him ^(R)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^(S)you whitewashed wall! Do you ^(T)sit to try me according to the Law, and in violation of the Law order me to be struck?” ⁴ But the bystanders said, “Do you revile God’s high priest?” ⁵ And Paul said, “I was not aware, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, ‘^(U)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But perceiving that one group were ^(V)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^(W)the ^[m]Council, “^(X)Brethren, ^(Y)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^(Z)the hope and resurrection of the dead!” ⁷ As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. ⁸ For ^(AA)the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. ⁹ And there occurred a great uproar; and some of ^(AB)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^(AC)We find nothing wrong with this man; ^(AD)suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ And as a great dissension was developing, the ^[n]commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them and ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into ^(AE)the barracks.

¹¹ But on ^(AF)the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “^(AG)Take courage; for ^(AH)as you have ^(AI)solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”