Paul tells his own story
1“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense I now make before you.” 2When they heard him speaking to them in the Hebrew language they grew even quieter. And he went on: 3“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city. I was trained at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict observance of our ancestral law, and I was zealous for God, just as all of you are today. 4I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting men and women alike and throwing them into prison, 5as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify. It was from them that I received letters to our brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way there to bring those people back to Jerusalem in chains, to be punished. 6As I was traveling and coming near Damascus, about noon, a great light from the sky suddenly blazed all around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ 8I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the one you are persecuting.’ 9Those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the one speaking to me. 10I said, ‘What am I to do, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘Get up and go into Damascus. There you will be told everything you have been appointed to do.’ 11Since I could see nothing, blinded by the brilliance of that light, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus. 12A man named Ananias, devout in his observance of the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there, 13came to me, stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, look up and see.’ And in that same hour I looked up at him. 14He said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear the voice from his own mouth, 15because you are to be his witness before all people of what you have seen and heard. 16And now, why wait? Get up, be baptized and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.’ 17After I returned to Jerusalem, while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19I said, ‘Lord, they know that I went from synagogue to synagogue imprisoning and flogging those who believed in you; 20and when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I was standing there giving my approval, and looking after the coats of the men who killed him.’ 21And he said to me, ‘Go, for I am sending you far away, to the Gentiles.’”
A Roman citizen in chains
22Up to that word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of this man! He has no right to live!” 23As they screamed and flung off their cloaks and threw dust into the air, 24the commander ordered Paul brought into the barracks and told his men to examine him under the lash, to find out why the crowd was howling at him like this. 25But as they stretched him out for the straps, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen who has not even been tried?” 26When the centurion heard this he went to the commander and reported it. “What are you about to do?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.” 27The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said. 28The commander replied, “It cost me a great deal of money to acquire this citizenship.” “But I was born with it,” said Paul. 29The men who were to interrogate him drew back at once, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains. 30The next day, wanting to know for certain what the Jews were accusing him of, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to assemble; then he brought Paul down and set him before them.
