22 ¹ ‘Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defence before you.’ ² When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic,^[a] they became even quieter.^{(A) 3} He^(B) continued, ‘I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel^(C) according to the strictness of our ancestral law. I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.^{(D) 4} I persecuted this Way^(E) to the death, arresting and putting both men and women in jail,^{(F) 5} as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I travelled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.^(G)

Paul’s Testimony

⁶ ‘As^(H) I was travelling and approaching Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? ”

⁸ ‘I answered, “Who are you, Lord? ”

‘He said to me, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are persecuting.” ⁹ Now those who were with me saw the light,^[b] but they did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.^(I)

¹⁰ ‘I said, “What should I do, Lord? ”

‘The Lord told me, “Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything that you have been assigned to do.”

¹¹ ‘Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of the light,^[c] I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and went into Damascus.^{(J) 12} Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,^{(K) 13} came and stood by me and said, “Brother Saul, regain your sight.” And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. ¹⁴ And he said, “The God of our ancestors has appointed^(L) you to know his will, to see^(M) the Righteous One,^(N) and to hear the words from his mouth, ¹⁵ since you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.^{(O) 16} And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptised, and wash away your sins,^(P) calling on his name.”^(Q)

¹⁷ ‘After I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance^{(R) 18} and saw him telling me, “Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.”

¹⁹ ‘But I said, “Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in you imprisoned and beaten.^{(S) 20} And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood there giving approval^[d] and guarding the clothes of those who killed him.”^(T)

²¹ ‘He said to me, “Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” ’^(U)

Paul’s Roman Protection

²² They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, ‘Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live! ’^(V)

²³ As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air,^{(W) 24} the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with the scourge to discover the reason they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵ As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, ‘Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned? ’^(X)

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went and reported to the commander, saying, ‘What are you going to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.’

²⁷ The commander came and said to him, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? ’

‘Yes,’ he said.

²⁸ The commander replied, ‘I bought this citizenship for a large amount of money.’

‘But I was born a citizen,’ Paul said.

²⁹ So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately. The commander too was alarmed when he realised Paul was a Roman citizen and he had bound him.^(Y)

Paul before the Sanhedrin

³⁰ The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him^[e] and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene.^(Z) He brought Paul down and placed him before them.