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22 The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they began shouting, “Get rid of him! He doesn’t deserve to live!” 23 They shouted, threw off their coats,[a] and threw dust into the air.[b]

24 Then the commander ordered the soldiers to take Paul into the army building and beat him. He wanted to make Paul tell why the people were shouting against him like this. 25 But as the soldiers were tying him up, preparing to beat him, Paul said to an officer nearby, “Do you have the right to beat a Roman citizen[c] who has not been proven guilty?”

26 When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. The officer said, “Do you know what you are doing? This man is a Roman citizen.”

27 The commander came to Paul and said, “Tell me, are you really a Roman citizen?”

He answered, “Yes.”

28 The commander said, “I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.”

But Paul said, “I was born a citizen.”

29 The men who were preparing to question Paul moved away from him immediately. The commander was frightened because he had already tied Paul, and Paul was a Roman citizen.

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Footnotes

  1. 22:23 threw off their coats This showed that the people were very angry with Paul.
  2. 22:23 threw dust into the air This showed even greater anger.
  3. 22:25 Roman citizen Roman law said that Roman citizens must not be beaten before they had a trial.

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