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¹ "Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I am now making before you."[xr] ² When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he continued,

³ "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today.[xr] ⁴ I persecuted this Way even to the death and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison,[xr] ⁵ as the high priest and the whole Council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was going there to tie up those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.[xr] ⁶ "But while I was on my way and approaching Damascus about noon, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.[xr] ⁷ I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?' ⁸ I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?'[fn] He said to me, 'I am Jesus from Nazareth,[fn] whom you are persecuting.' ⁹ The men who were with me saw the light but didn't understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.[xr] ¹⁰ "Then I asked, 'What am I to do, Lord?' The Lord told me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are destined to do.' ¹¹ Since I could not see because of the brightness of the light, the men who were with me took me by the hand and led me into Damascus. ¹² "A certain Ananias, who was a devout man in accordance with the law and who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,[xr] ¹³ came to me. He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' At that moment I could see him. ¹⁴ Then he said, 'The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear his own voice,[fn][xr] ¹⁵ because you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.[xr] ¹⁶ What are you waiting for now? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away as you call on his name.'[xr] ¹⁷ "Then I returned to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance[xr] ¹⁸ and saw the Lord[fn] saying to me, 'Hurry up and get out of Jerusalem at once, because the people[fn] won't accept your testimony about me.'[xr] ¹⁹ I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you.[xr] ²⁰ Even when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there approving it and guarding the coats of those who were killing him.'[xr] ²¹ Then he said to me, 'Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"[xr]

²² Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He's not fit to go on living!"[xr] ²³ While they were yelling, tossing their coats around, and throwing dirt into the air, ²⁴ the tribune ordered Paul[fn] to be taken into the barracks and told the soldiers[fn] to question him with a beating in order to find out why they were yelling at him like this. ²⁵ But when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul asked the centurion[fn] who was standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't been condemned?"[xr] ²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!" ²⁷ So the tribune went and asked Paul,[fn] "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said. ²⁸ Then the tribune replied, "I paid a lot of money for this citizenship of mine." Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." ²⁹ Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul[fn] was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up. ³⁰ The next day, since the Tribune[fn] wanted to find out exactly what Paul[fn] was being accused of by the Jews, he released him and ordered the high priests and the entire Council[fn] to meet. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.