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¹ Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense [which I make] now to you.² (And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)

³ I am verily a man [who am] a Jew, born in Tarsus, [a city] in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, [and] taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, being zealous towards God, as ye all are this day.⁴ And I persecuted this way even to death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.⁵ As also the high priest doth bear me testimony, and all the estate of the elders; from whom also I received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them who were there bound to Jerusalem, to be punished.⁶ And it came to pass, that as I was passing on my journey, and had come nigh to Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light around me.⁷ And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?⁸ And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.⁹ And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spoke to me.¹⁰ And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee concerning all things which are appointed for thee to do.¹¹ And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.¹² And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews who dwelt [there],¹³ Came to me, and stood, and said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.¹⁴ And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldst know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldst hear the voice of his mouth.¹⁵ For thou shalt be his witness to all men of what thou hast seen and heard.¹⁶ And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.¹⁷ And it came to pass, that when I had come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;¹⁸ And saw him saying to me, Make haste, and depart quickly from Jerusalem; for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.¹⁹ And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned, and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:²⁰ And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting to his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.²¹ And he said to me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles.

²² And they gave him audience to this word, and [then] lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a [man] from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.²³ And as they cried out, and cast off [their] clothes, and threw dust into the air,²⁴ The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know for what cause they cried so against him.²⁵ And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?²⁶ When the centurion heard [that], he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman.²⁷ Then the chief captain came, and said to him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yes.²⁸ And the chief captain answered, With a great sum I obtained this freedom. And Paul said, But I was [free] born.²⁹ Then forthwith they departed from him who were about to examine him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.³⁰ On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty why he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him from [his] bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.