Read the Bible

Paul's Defense before the Jews

¹ "^(F1)(C1)Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you."

² And when they heard that he was addressing them in the ^(F1)(C1)Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he ^(*)said,

³ "^(C1)I am ^(C2)a Jew, born in ^(C3)Tarsus of ^(C4)Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated ^(F1)under ^(C5)Gamaliel, ^(F2)(C6)strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as ^(C7)you all are today.⁴ "^(C1)I persecuted this ^(C2)Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons,⁵ as also ^(C1)the high priest and all ^(C2)the Council of the elders ^(F1)can testify. From them I also ^(C3)received letters to ^(C4)the brothers, and started off for ^(C3)Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem ^(F2)as prisoners to be punished.

⁶ "^(C1)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,⁷ and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'⁸ "And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am ^(C1)Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'⁹ "And those who were with me ^(C1)saw the light, but ^(C2)did not ^(F1)understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.¹⁰ "And I said, '^(C1)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.'¹¹ "But since I ^(C1)could not see because of the ^(F1)brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.

¹² "Now a certain ^(C1)Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and ^(C2)well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,¹³ came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, '^(C1)Brother Saul, receive your sight!' And ^(F1)(C2)at that very moment I looked up at him.¹⁴ "And he said, '^(C1)The God of our fathers has ^(C2)appointed you to know His will and to ^(C3)see the ^(C4)Righteous One and to hear a ^(F1)message from His mouth.¹⁵ 'For you will be ^(C1)a witness for Him to all people of ^(C2)what you have seen and heard.¹⁶ 'Now why do you delay? ^(C1)Get up and be baptized, and ^(C2)wash away your sins by ^(C3)calling on His name.'

¹⁷ "It happened when I ^(C1)returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I ^(C2)fell into a trance,¹⁸ and I saw Him saying to me, '^(C1)Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.'¹⁹ "And I said, 'Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another ^(C1)I used to imprison and ^(C2)beat those who believed in You.²⁰ 'And ^(C1)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.'²¹ "And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away ^(C1)to the Gentiles.'"

²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, "^(C1)Away with such a man from the earth, for ^(C2)he should not be allowed to live!"²³ And as they were shouting and ^(C1)throwing off their cloaks and ^(C2)tossing dust into the air,²⁴ the commander ordered that he be brought into ^(C1)the barracks, saying that he was to be ^(C2)interrogated by flogging so that he would find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way.²⁵ But when they stretched him out ^(F1)with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it ^(F2)lawful for you to flog ^(C1)a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"²⁶ When 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."²⁷ The commander came and said to ^(F1)Paul, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" And he said, "Yes."²⁸ The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen."²⁹ Therefore, those who were about to ^(C1)interrogate him immediately backed away from him; and the commander also ^(C2)was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had ^(F1)(C3)put him in chains.

³⁰ Now on the next day, ^(C1)wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he ^(C2)released him and ordered the chief priests and all ^(C3)the ^(F1)Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.