Acts 22
22
1 "Noble brothers and fathers, listen to the explanation that I now give to you."
2 And when they heard him speaking to them in the Hebrew language, they offered a greater silence.
3 And he said: "I am a Jewish man, born at Tarsus in Cilicia, but raised in this city beside the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the truth of the law of the fathers, zealous for the law, just as all of you also are to this day.
4 I persecuted this Way, even unto death, binding and delivering into custody both men and women,
5 just as the high priest and all those greater by birth bear witness to me. Having received letters from them to the brothers, I journeyed to Damascus, so that I might lead them bound from there to Jerusalem, so that they might be punished.
6 But it happened that, as I was traveling and was approaching Damascus at midday, suddenly from heaven a great light shone around me.
7 And falling to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
8 And I responded, 'Who are you, Lord?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'
9 And those who were with me, indeed, saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of him who was speaking with me.
10 And I said, 'What should I do, Lord?' Then the Lord said to me: 'Rise up, and go to Damascus. And there, you shall be told all that you must do.'
11 And since I could not see, because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by my companions, and I went to Damascus.
12 Then a certain Ananias, a man in accord with the law, having the testimony of all the Jews who were living there,
13 drawing near to me and standing close by, said to me, 'Brother Saul, see!' And in that same hour, I looked upon him.
14 But he said: 'The God of our fathers has preordained you, so that you would come to know his will and would see the Just One, and would hear the voice from his mouth.
15 For you shall be his witness to all men about those things which you have seen and heard.
16 And now, why do you delay? Rise up, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, by invoking his name.'
17 Then it happened that, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, a mental stupor came over me,
18 and I saw him saying to me: 'Hurry! Depart quickly from Jerusalem! For they will not accept your testimony about me.'
19 And I said: 'Lord, they know that I am beating and enclosing in prison, throughout every synagogue, those who have believed in you.
20 And when the blood of your witness Stephen was poured out, I stood nearby and was consenting, and I watched over the garments of those who put him to death.'
21 And he said to me, 'Go forth. For I am sending you to far away nations.' "
22 Now they were listening to him, until this word, and then they lifted up their voice, saying: "Take this kind away from the earth! For it is not fitting for him to live!"
23 And while they were shouting, and tossing aside their garments, and casting dust into the air,
24 the tribune ordered him to be brought into the fortress, and to be scourged and tortured, in order to discover the reason that they were crying out in this way against him.
25 And when they had tied him with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing near him, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and has not been condemned?"
26 Upon hearing this, the centurion went to the tribune and reported it to him, saying: "What do you intend to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."
27 And the tribune, approaching, said to him: "Tell me. Are you a Roman?" So he said, "Yes."
28 And the tribune responded, "I obtained this citizenship at great cost." And Paul said, "But I was born to it."
29 Therefore, those who were going to torture him, immediately withdrew from him. The tribune was similarly afraid, after he realized that he was a Roman citizen, for he had bound him.
30 But on the next day, wanting to discover more diligently what the reason was that he was accused by the Jews, he released him, and he ordered the priests to convene, with the entire council. And, producing Paul, he stationed him among them.
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Acts 22: CPDV
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Acts 22
22
1-2a “My dear brothers and fathers, listen carefully to what I have to say before you jump to conclusions about me.” When they heard him speaking Hebrew, they grew even quieter. No one wanted to miss a word of this.
2b-3 He continued, “I am a good Jew, born in Tarsus in the province of Cilicia, but educated here in Jerusalem under the exacting eye of Rabbi Gamaliel, thoroughly instructed in our religious traditions. And I’ve always been passionately on God’s side, just as you are right now.
4-5“I went after anyone connected with this ‘Way,’ went at them with all my might, ready to kill for God. I rounded up men and women right and left and had them thrown in prison. You can ask the Chief Priest or anyone in the High Council to verify this; they all knew me well. Then I went off to our brothers in Damascus, armed with official documents authorizing me to hunt down the followers of Jesus there, arrest them, and bring them back to Jerusalem for sentencing.
6-7“As I arrived on the outskirts of Damascus about noon, a blinding light blazed out of the skies and I fell to the ground, dazed. I heard a voice: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you out to get me?’
8-9“‘Who are you, Master?’ I asked.
“He said, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you’re hunting down.’ My companions saw the light, but they didn’t hear the conversation.
10-11“Then I said, ‘What do I do now, Master?’
“He said, ‘Get to your feet and enter Damascus. There you’ll be told everything that’s been set out for you to do.’ And so we entered Damascus, but nothing like the entrance I had planned—I was blind as a bat and my companions had to lead me in by the hand.
12-13“And that’s when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws—the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. He came and put his arm on my shoulder. ‘Look up,’ he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes—I could see again!
14-16“Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has handpicked you to be briefed on his plan of action. You’ve actually seen the Righteous Innocent and heard him speak. You are to be a key witness to everyone you meet of what you’ve seen and heard. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptized, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God.’
17-18“Well, it happened just as Ananias said. After I was back in Jerusalem and praying one day in the Temple, lost in the presence of God, I saw him, saw God’s Righteous Innocent, and heard him say to me, ‘Hurry up! Get out of here as quickly as you can. None of the Jews here in Jerusalem are going to accept what you say about me.’
19-20“At first I objected: ‘Who has better credentials? They all know how obsessed I was with hunting out those who believed in you, beating them up in the meeting places and throwing them in jail. And when your witness Stephen was murdered, I was right there, holding the coats of the murderers and cheering them on. And now they see me totally converted. What better qualification could I have?’
21“But he said, ‘Don’t argue. Go. I’m sending you on a long journey to outsider non-Jews.’”
A Roman Citizen
22-25The people in the crowd had listened attentively up to this point, but now they broke loose, shouting out, “Kill him! He’s an insect! Stomp on him!” They shook their fists. They filled the air with curses. That’s when the captain intervened and ordered Paul taken into the barracks. By now the captain was thoroughly exasperated. He decided to interrogate Paul under torture in order to get to the bottom of this, to find out what he had done that provoked this outraged violence. As they spread-eagled him with strips of leather, getting him ready for the whip, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is this legal: torturing a Roman citizen without a fair trial?”
26When the centurion heard that, he went directly to the captain. “Do you realize what you’ve done? This man is a Roman citizen!”
27The captain came back and took charge. “Is what I hear right? You’re a Roman citizen?”
Paul said, “I certainly am.”
28The captain was impressed. “I paid a huge sum for my citizenship. How much did it cost you?”
“Nothing,” said Paul. “It cost me nothing. I was free from the day of my birth.”
29That put a stop to the interrogation. And it put the fear of God into the captain. He had put a Roman citizen in chains and come within a whisker of putting him under torture!
30The next day, determined to get to the root of the trouble and know for sure what was behind the Jewish accusation, the captain released Paul and ordered a meeting of the high priests and the High Council to see what they could make of it. Paul was led in and took his place before them.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.