³ Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.^{(A) 4} He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”^{(B) 5} He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶ But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one.^{(C) 8} Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing;^[a] so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

⁶ “While I was on my way and approaching Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone about me.^{(A) 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?’ Then he said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth^[a] whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹ Now those who were with me saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.^{(B) 10} I asked, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told everything that has been assigned to you to do.’^{(C) 11} Since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, those who were with me took my hand and led me to Damascus.^(D)

Paul Tells of His Conversion

¹² “With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,^{(A) 13} when at midday along the road, Your Excellency,^[a] I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. ¹⁴ When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew^[b] language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’^{(B) 15} I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me^[c] and to those in which I will appear to you.^{(C) 17} I will rescue you from your people and from the gentiles—to whom I am sending you^{(D) 18} to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’^(E)