Acts 22
22
1Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defense which I make now unto you.
2(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)
3 #
Acts 5.34-39. I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cili´cia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gama´li-el, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. 4#Acts 8.3; 26.9-11. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. 5As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
Paul Tells of His Conversion
(Acts 9.1-19; 26.12-18)
6And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. 7And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. 9And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid;#22.9 and were afraid not found in best early manuscripts. but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. 10And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. 11And 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.
12And one Anani´as, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. 16And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
Paul's Call to the Gentiles
17And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; 18and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. 19And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: 20#Acts 7.58. and when the blood of thy martyr#22.20 martyr or witness. Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. 21And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.
Paul in the Custody of the Chief Captain
22And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. 23And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, 24the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. 25And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? 26When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest; for this man is a Roman. 27Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. 28And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free-born. 29Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
Paul before the Council
30On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of 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.
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Acts 22: KJVAAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Acts 22
22
Paul’s Defense
1“Ladies and gentlemen, fellow believers and elders # 22:1 Or “fathers” (or “parents”). —please listen to me as I offer my defense.” # 22:1 The Aramaic is literally “Listen to my soul’s outburst.” 2(Now, when everyone realized he was speaking to them in their Judean Aramaic language, # 22:2 Or “Hebrew.” Throughout the Middle East, Assyria, and Babylon, Aramaic was the lingua franca, the language of the people of that day. Greek and Latin were also spoken but were not as prevalent as Aramaic. the crowd became all the more attentive.)
3Then Paul said, “I am a Jewish man who was born in Tarsus, a city of Turkey. # 22:3 Or “Cilicia,” which was known as Asia Minor. However, I grew up in this city and was properly trained in the Mosaic law and tutored by Rabbi Gamaliel according to our ancestral customs. I’ve been extremely passionate in my desire to please God, just as all of you are today. 4I’ve hunted down and killed the followers of this Way. I have seized them and thrown them into prison, both men and women. 5All of this can be verified by the high priest and the Supreme Council of Elders. For they even wrote letters to our fellow Jews of Damascus, authorizing me to arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
6“As I was on the road approaching Damascus, about noon, a brilliant heavenly light suddenly appeared, flashing all around me. 7As I fell to the ground I heard a voice say, ‘Saul, Saul . . . why are you persecuting me?’
8“I answered, ‘Who are you, my Lord?’
“He said to me, ‘I am Jesus, the Victorious. # 22:8 Or “Jesus the Nazarene.” The word Nazarene means “the branch” or “Scion.” The Aramaic word implies the title of an heir of a powerful family, or one who is victorious (“Jesus, the Victorious”). Believers are now grafted-in branches of his family tree, victorious ones in Christ. I am the one you are persecuting.’
9“Those who were with me saw the brilliant light, but they didn’t hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. # 22:9 Some Greek manuscripts add “and they were afraid.”
10“So I asked, ‘Lord, what am I to do?’
“And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about all that you are destined to do.’
11“Because of the dazzling glory of the light, I couldn’t see—I was left blind. So they had to lead me by the hand the rest of the way into Damascus.
12“A Jewish man living there named Ananias came to see me. He was a godly man who lived according to the law of Moses and was highly esteemed by the Jewish community. 13He stood beside me and said, ‘Saul! My brother, Saul—open your eyes and see again!’ At that very instant I opened my eyes and I could see! 14Then he said to me, ‘The God of our ancestors has destined you # 22:14 The Aramaic is “raised you up.” to know his plan and for you to see the Holy One # 22:14 Or “the Righteous One” or “the Just One.” and to hear his voice. 15For you will be his witness # 22:15 Or “martyr.” to every race of people and will share with them everything that you’ve seen and heard. 16So now, what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins as you call upon his name.’
17“Then I returned to Jerusalem. And while I was praying in the temple, I entered another realm # 22:17 Or “fell into a trance.” The Greek word for trance (ekstasis, from which we get the word ecstasy) literally means “to be taken to another place” (state or realm). (See Strong’s Concordance, Gr. 1611.) He was actually taken into another realm as a trance came over him. 18and saw him. He said to me, ‘Hurry and depart from Jerusalem quickly, for the people here will not receive the truths you share about me.’
19“ ‘But Lord,’ I argued, ‘they all know that I’m the one who went into our Jewish meetings to find those who believe in you and had them beaten # 22:19 Or “beat with a whip” (flogged). and imprisoned. 20When the blood of your witness # 22:20 Or “martyr.” Stephen was shed, I stood nearby in full approval of what was happening. I even guarded the cloaks of those who stoned him to death.’
21“Then he said to me, ‘Go at once, for I am sending you to preach to the non-Jewish nations.’ ” # 22:21 The Aramaic is “the far-away nations.” See also Rom. 11:13.
22The crowd listened attentively to Paul up to this point. But when they heard this, all at once they erupted with loud shouts, saying, “Get rid of this man! Kill him! He doesn’t deserve to live!”
The Roman Commander Interrogates Paul
23While the crowd was screaming and yelling, removing their outer garments, and throwing handfuls of dust in the air in protest, 24the commander had Paul brought back into the compound. He ordered that he be whipped with a lash and interrogated to find out what he said that so infuriated the crowd.
25When the soldiers stretched Paul out with ropes, he said to the captain, who was standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to torture a Roman citizen like this, without a proper trial?”
26When the officer heard this, he immediately went to his commander and reported it, saying, “This man is a Roman citizen. What should we do now?”
27The commander came to Paul and asked him, “Tell me the truth, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes I am,” he replied.
28The commander said, “I had to purchase my citizenship with a great sum of money.”
Paul replied, “I was born as a citizen!”
29All of the soldiers who were about to whip Paul backed away, because they were afraid of the consequences for tying up and holding a Roman citizen against his will.
30The next day the commander ordered that the high priest and the supreme Jewish council # 22:30 Or “Sanhedrin,” a council of seventy of the elders of Israel. be convened, because he wanted to find out exactly why the Jews were accusing Paul. So he had him untied and brought out to stand before them all.
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