Acts 26:9-20

International Children’s Bible

⁹ “I too thought I ought to do many things against Jesus from Nazareth. ¹⁰ And in Jerusalem I did many things against God’s people. The leading priests gave me the power to put many of them in jail. When they were being killed, I agreed that it was a good thing. ¹¹ In every synagogue, I often punished them. I tried to make them say evil things against Jesus. I was so angry against them that I even went to other cities to find them and punish them.

¹² “One time the leading priests gave me permission and the power to go to Damascus. ¹³ On the way there, at noon, I saw a light from heaven. The light was brighter than the sun. It flashed all around me and the men who were traveling with me. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in the Jewish language.^[a] The voice said, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you doing things against me? You are only hurting yourself by fighting me.’ ¹⁵ I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said, ‘I am Jesus. I am the One you are trying to hurt. ¹⁶ Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant. You will be my witness—you will tell people the things that you have seen and the things that I will show you. This is why I have come to you today. ¹⁷ I will not let your own people hurt you. And I will keep you safe from the non-Jewish people too. These are the people I am sending you to. ¹⁸ I send you to open their eyes that they may turn away from darkness to the light. I send you that they may turn away from the power of Satan and turn to God. Then their sins can be forgiven and they can have a place with those people who have been made holy by believing in me.’

¹⁹ “King Agrippa, after I had this vision from heaven, I obeyed it. ²⁰ I began telling people that they should change their hearts and lives and turn to God. I told them to do things to show that they really had changed. I told this first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and in every part of Judea, and also to the non-Jewish people.