The Acts 22
22
1Brethren and fathers, hear my defence which I now make to you. 2And hearing that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more quiet; and he says,
3 I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to the exactness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, as ye are all this day; 4who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women; 5as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the elderhood: from whom also, having received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished. 6And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about mid-day, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me. 7And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom thou persecutest. 9But they that were with me beheld the light, and were filled with fear, but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me. 10And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do. 11And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus. 12And a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews who dwelt there, 13coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And I, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him. 14And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth; 15for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name. 17And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy, 18and saw him saying to me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. 19And I said, Lord, they themselves know that I was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those that believe on thee; 20and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by and consenting, and kept the clothes of them who killed him. 21And he said to me, Go, for I will send thee to the nations afar off.
22And they heard him until this word, and lifted up their voice, saying, Away with such a one as that from the earth, for it was not fit he should live. 23And as they were crying, and throwing away their clothes, and casting dust into the air, 24the chiliarch commanded him to be brought into the fortress, saying that he should be examined by scourging, that he might ascertain for what cause they cried thus against him. 25But as they stretched him forward with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned? 26And the centurion, having heard it, went and reported it to the chiliarch, saying, What art thou going to do? for this man is a Roman. 27And the chiliarch coming up said to him, Tell me, Art thou a Roman? And he said, Yes. 28And the chiliarch answered, I, for a great sum, bought this citizenship. And Paul said, But I was also free born. 29Immediately therefore those who were going to examine him left him, and the chiliarch also was afraid when he ascertained that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. 30And on the morrow, desirous to know the certainty of the matter why he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and having brought Paul down set him before them.
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The Acts 22: DARBY
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
Acts 22
22
1“Brothers and fathers,” Paul began, “listen to me now. I want to give you reasons for my actions.”
2When they heard that he was speaking to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said, 3“I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. I studied with Gamaliel. I was well trained by him in the law given to our people long ago. I wanted to serve God as much as any of you do today. 4I hurt the followers of the Way of Jesus. I sent many of them to their death. I arrested men and women. I threw them into prison. 5The high priest and the whole Council can be witnesses of this themselves. I even had some official letters they had written to their friends in Damascus. So I went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
6“I had almost reached Damascus. About noon a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice speak to me. ‘Saul! Saul!’ it said. ‘Why are you opposing me?’
8“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth,’ he replied. ‘I am the one you are opposing.’ 9The light was seen by my companions. But they didn’t understand the voice of the one speaking to me.
10“ ‘What should I do, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘Get up,’ the Lord said. ‘Go into Damascus. There you will be told everything you have been given to do.’ 11The brightness of the light had blinded me. So my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.
12“A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a godly Jew who obeyed the law. All the Jews living there respected him very much. 13He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ At that very moment I was able to see him.
14“Then he said, ‘The God of our people has chosen you. He wanted to tell you his plans for you. You have seen the Blameless One. You have heard words from his mouth. 15Now you will tell everyone about what you have seen and heard. 16So what are you waiting for? Get up and call on his name. Be baptized. Have your sins washed away.’
17“I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple. Then it seemed to me that I was dreaming. 18I saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem at once. The people here will not accept what you tell them about me.’
19“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know what I used to do. I went from one synagogue to another and put believers in prison. I also beat them. 20Stephen was a man who told other people about you. I stood there when he was killed. I had agreed that he should die. I even guarded the coats of those who were killing him.’
21“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go. I will send you far away to people who are not Jews.’ ”
Paul the Roman Citizen
22The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they shouted, “Kill him! He isn’t fit to live!”
23They shouted and threw off their coats. They threw dust into the air. 24So the commanding officer ordered that Paul be taken into the fort. He gave orders for Paul to be whipped and questioned. He wanted to find out why the people were shouting at him like this. 25A commander was standing there as they stretched Paul out to be whipped. Paul said to him, “Does the law allow you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t even been found guilty?”
26When the commander heard this, he went to the commanding officer and reported it. “What are you going to do?” the commander asked. “This man is a Roman citizen.”
27So the commanding officer went to Paul. “Tell me,” he asked. “Are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” Paul answered.
28Then the officer said, “I had to pay a lot of money to become a citizen.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
29Right away those who were about to question him left. Even the officer was alarmed. He realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.
Paul Is Taken to the Sanhedrin
30The commanding officer wanted to find out exactly what the Jews had against Paul. So the next day he let Paul out of prison. He ordered a meeting of the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin. Then he brought Paul and had him stand in front of them.
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