²³ they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.”

⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.^{(A) 9} For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.^{(B) 10} But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me.^(C)

¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem,

¹³ even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,^{(A) 14} and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me^[a] with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.^{(B) 15} The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.^{(C) 16} But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

²⁰ and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Saul in Jerusalem

²⁶ When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.^(A)

⁷ The word of God continued to spread; the number of the disciples increased greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.^(A)