⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”^(A)

¹⁰ “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.

“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’^(A)

¹⁴ The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly,^(A) along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.^(B)

¹⁵ Here is a trustworthy saying^(C) that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners^(D)—of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶ But for that very reason I was shown mercy^(E) so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience^(F) as an example for those who would believe^(G) in him and receive eternal life.^(H)

¹⁶ ‘Now get up and stand on your feet.^(A) I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.^(B)

Do Everything Without Grumbling

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,^(A)

¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb^(A) and called me^(B) by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles,^(C) my immediate response was not to consult any human being.^(D)

²⁰ And Isaiah boldly says,

³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.^(A)

¹⁵ For he says to Moses,

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^{(B) 17} For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{[b](C) 18} Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(D)

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(E) “Then why does God still blame us?^(F) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(G) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(H) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(I) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[c](J) 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(K)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(L) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(M) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(N) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(O)— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called,^(P) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(Q)