Acts 22-23

New American Standard Bible 1995

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

22 “^(A)Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

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

³ “^(C)I am ^(D)a Jew, born in ^(E)Tarsus of ^(F)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^[b]under ^(G)Gamaliel, ^[c](H)strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(I)you all are today. ^4 (J)I persecuted this ^(K)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵ as also ^(L)the high priest and all ^(M)the Council of the elders ^[d]can testify. From them I also ^(N)received letters to ^(O)the brethren, and started off for ^(P)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^[e]as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ “^(Q)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, 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 ^(R)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ And those who were with me ^(S)saw the light, to be sure, but ^(T)did not ^[f]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰ And I said, ‘^(U)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹ But since I ^(V)could not see because of the ^[g]brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

¹² “A certain ^(W)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and ^(X)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘^(Y)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[h](Z)at that very time I looked up at him. ¹⁴ And he said, ‘^(AA)The God of our fathers has ^(AB)appointed you to know His will and to ^(AC)see the ^(AD)Righteous One and to hear an ^[i]utterance from His mouth. ¹⁵ For you will be ^(AE)a witness for Him to all men of ^(AF)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶ Now why do you delay? ^(AG)Get up and be baptized, and ^(AH)wash away your sins, ^(AI)calling on His name.’

¹⁷ “It happened when I ^(AJ)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(AK)fell into a trance, ¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^(AL)Make haste, 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 ^(AM)I used to imprison and ^(AN)beat those who believed in You. ²⁰ And ^(AO)when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’ ²¹ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(AP)to the Gentiles.’”

²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(AQ)Away with such a fellow from the earth, for ^(AR)he should not be allowed to live!” ²³ And as they were crying out and ^(AS)throwing off their cloaks and ^(AT)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the ^[j]commander ordered him to be brought into ^(AU)the barracks, stating that he should be ^(AV)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 ^[k]with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[l]lawful for you to scourge ^(AW)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the ^[m]commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷ The ^[n]commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸ The ^[o]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 ^(AX)examine him immediately ^[p]let go of him; and the ^[q]commander also ^(AY)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^[r](AZ)put him in chains.

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

Paul before the Council

23 Paul, looking intently at ^(BD)the ^[t]Council, said, “^(BE)Brethren, ^(BF)I have ^[u]lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day.” ² The high priest ^(BG)Ananias commanded those standing beside him ^(BH)to strike him on the mouth. ³ Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, ^(BI)you whitewashed wall! Do you ^(BJ)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, ‘^(BK)You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”

⁶ But perceiving that one group were ^(BL)Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in ^(BM)the ^[v]Council, “^(BN)Brethren, ^(BO)I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for ^(BP)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 ^(BQ)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 ^(BR)the scribes of the Pharisaic party stood up and began to argue heatedly, saying, “^(BS)We find nothing wrong with this man; ^(BT)suppose a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” ¹⁰ And as a great dissension was developing, the ^[w]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 ^(BU)the barracks.

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

A Conspiracy to Kill Paul

¹² When it was day, ^(BZ)the Jews formed a ^[x]conspiracy and ^(CA)bound themselves under an oath, saying that they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ There were more than forty who formed this plot. ¹⁴ They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have ^(CB)bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now therefore, you ^[y]and ^(CC)the ^[z]Council notify the ^[aa]commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case by a more thorough investigation; and we for our part are ready to slay him before he comes near the place.”

¹⁶ But the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, ^[ab]and he came and entered ^(CD)the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, “Lead this young man to the ^[ac]commander, for he has something to report to him.” ¹⁸ So he took him and led him to the ^[ad]commander and *said, “Paul ^(CE)the prisoner called me to him and asked me to lead this young man to you since he has something to tell you.” ¹⁹ The ^[ae]commander took him by the hand and stepping aside, began to inquire of him privately, “What is it that you have to report to me?” ²⁰ And he said, “^(CF)The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down tomorrow to ^(CG)the ^[af]Council, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more thoroughly about him. ²¹ So do not ^[ag]listen to them, for more than forty of them are ^(CH)lying in wait for him who have ^(CI)bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they slay him; and now they are ready and waiting for the promise from you.” ²² So the ^[ah]commander let the young man go, instructing him, “Tell no one that you have notified me of these things.”

Paul Moved to Caesarea

²³ And he called to him two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready by ^[ai]the third hour of the night to proceed to ^(CJ)Caesarea, ^[aj]with seventy horsemen and two hundred ^[ak]spearmen.” ²⁴ They were also to provide mounts to put Paul on and bring him safely to ^(CK)Felix the governor. ²⁵ And he wrote a letter having this form:

³¹ So the soldiers, in accordance with their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris. ³² But the next day, leaving ^(CX)the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to ^(CY)the barracks. ³³ When these had come to ^(CZ)Caesarea and delivered the letter to ^(DA)the governor, they also presented Paul to him. ³⁴ When he had read it, he asked from what ^(DB)province he was, and when he learned that ^(DC)he was from Cilicia, ³⁵ he said, “I will give you a hearing after your ^(DD)accusers arrive also,” giving orders for him to be ^(DE)kept in Herod’s ^[ap]Praetorium.