² and asked ^(A)letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

²³ And ^(A)about that time there arose a great commotion about ^(B)the Way.

⁹ But ^(A)when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil ^(B)of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

¹⁴ But this I confess to you, that according to ^(A)the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the ^(B)God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in ^(C)the Law and in the Prophets.

²⁵ This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being ^(A)fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, ^(B)though he knew only the baptism of John.

Felix Procrastinates

²² But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the ^(A)Way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, “When ^(B)Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.”

^4 (A)I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, ⁵ as also the high priest bears me witness, and ^(B)all the council of the elders, ^(C)from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus ^(D)to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

¹⁴ And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all ^(A)who call on Your name.”

Paul Recounts His Conversion^(A)

^12 (B)“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,

⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^(A)their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

¹⁰ So the king ^(B)took ^(C)his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the ^(D)enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

^12 (E)Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province ^(F)according to its script, and to every people in their language. ^(G)In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. ¹³ And the letters were ^(H)sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, ^(I)in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and ^(J)to plunder their ^[a]possessions.