Acts 22

New American Standard Bible

Paul’s Defense before the Jews

22 “^(A)^[a]Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^[b]^(B)Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,

³“^(C)I am ^(D)a Jew, born in ^(E)Tarsus of ^(F)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^[c]under ^(G)Gamaliel, ^[d]^(H)strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(I)you all are today. ⁴^(J)I persecuted this ^(K)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, ⁵as also ^(L)the high priest and all ^(M)the Council of the elders ^[e]can testify. From them I also ^(N)received letters to ^(O)the brothers, and started off for ^(P)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^[f]as prisoners to be punished.

⁶“^(Q)But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, ⁷and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ⁸And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am ^(R)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹And those who were with me ^(S)saw the light, but ^(T)did not ^[g]understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. ¹⁰And I said, ‘^(U)What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹But since I ^(V)could not see because of the ^[h]brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹²“Now a certain ^(W)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and ^(X)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘^(Y)Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And ^[i]^(Z)at that very moment I looked up at him. ¹⁴And he said, ‘^(AA)The God of our fathers has ^(AB)appointed you to know His will and to ^(AC)see the ^(AD)Righteous One and to hear a ^[j]message from His mouth. ¹⁵For you will be ^(AE)a witness for Him to all people of ^(AF)what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶Now why do you delay? ^(AG)Get up and be baptized, and ^(AH)wash away your sins by ^(AI)calling on His name.’

¹⁷“It happened when I ^(AJ)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(AK)fell into a trance, ¹⁸and I saw Him saying to me, ‘^(AL)Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ ¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^(AM)I used to imprison and ^(AN)beat those who believed in You. ²⁰And ^(AO)when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing nearby and approving, and watching over the cloaks of those who were killing him.’ ²¹And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away ^(AP)to the Gentiles.’”

²²They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “^(AQ)Away with such a man from the earth, for ^(AR)he should not be allowed to live!” ²³And as they were shouting and ^(AS)throwing off their cloaks and ^(AT)tossing dust into the air, ²⁴the commander ordered that he be brought into ^(AU)the barracks, saying that he was to be ^(AV)interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵But when they stretched him out ^[k]with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it ^[l]lawful for you to flog ^(AW)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” ²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” ²⁷The commander came and said to ^[m]Paul, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸The commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” ²⁹Therefore, those who were about to ^(AX)interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also ^(AY)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^[n]^(AZ)put him in chains.

³⁰Now on the next day, ^(BA)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he ^(BB)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(BC)the ^[o]Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.