Acts 21:37-22:21

The Voice

Paul: May I say something to you?

Commandant: Do you speak Greek? ³⁸ We thought you were that Egyptian who recently stirred a rebellion and led 4,000 assassins out into the desert. But if you speak Greek, then obviously you’re not the person we supposed.

Paul: ³⁹ No, I’m a Jew, originally from Tarsus in Cilicia. I’m a citizen from an important city. Please, I beg you, let me speak to the people.

22 Paul: Brothers and fathers, please let me defend myself against these charges.

Paul: ³ I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia. I was raised here in Jerusalem and was tutored in the great school of Gamaliel. My education trained me in the strict interpretation of the law of our ancestors, and I grew zealous for God, just as all of you are today. ⁴ I encountered a movement known as the Way, and I considered it a threat to our religion, so I persecuted it violently. I put both men and women in chains, had them imprisoned, and would have killed them— ⁵ as the high priest and the entire council of elders will tell you. I received documentation from them to go to Damascus and work with the brothers there to arrest followers of the Way and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains so they could be properly punished. ⁶ I was on my way to Damascus. It was about noon. Suddenly a powerful light shone around me, ⁷ and I fell to the ground. A voice spoke: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” ⁸ I answered, “Who are You, Lord?” The voice replied, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, the One you persecute.”

⁹ My companions saw the light, but they didn’t hear the voice. ¹⁰ I asked, “What do You want me to do, Lord?” The Lord replied, “Get up and go to Damascus; you will be given your instructions there.” ¹¹ Since the intense light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus. ¹² I was visited there by a devout man named Ananias, a law-keeping Jew who was well spoken of by all the Jews living in Damascus. ¹³ He said, “Brother Saul, regain your sight!” I could immediately see again, beginning with Ananias standing before me. ¹⁴ Then he said, “You have been chosen by the God of our ancestors to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice of God. ¹⁵ You will tell the story of what you have seen and heard to the whole world. ¹⁶ So now, don’t delay. Get up, be ceremonially cleansed through baptism,^[a] and have your sins washed away, as you call on His name in prayer.”

¹⁷ I returned to Jerusalem, and I was praying here in the temple one day. I slipped into a trance ¹⁸ and had a vision in which Jesus said to me, “Hurry! Get out of Jerusalem fast! The people here will not receive your testimony about Me.” ¹⁹ I replied, “But Lord, they all know that I went from synagogue to synagogue imprisoning and beating everyone who believed in You. ²⁰ They know what I was like and how I stood in approval of the execution of Stephen, Your witness, when he was stoned. I even held the coats of those who actually stoned him.” ²¹ Jesus replied, “Go, for I am going to send you to distant lands to teach the outsiders.”