Acts 22

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1 Men, brothers and fathers! hear my defense now to you.
2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in Hebrew, they calmed down even more. He said:

3 I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as you all are today.
4 I even persecuted to death [followers] this doctrine, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,
5 as a witness for me the high priest and all the elders, from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, to Damascus, I was going to put in there the bound to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 When I was in the way and drew near to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shined round about me a great light from heaven.
7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me: Saul, Saul! do you persecute me?
8 I answered: Who art thou, Lord? He told me: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
9 And they that were with me saw the light, and were afraid; but the voice is not heard speaking to me.
10 Then I said: My Lord! what should I do? And the Lord said to me: Arise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.
eleven And I the glory of that light, being deprived of them that were with me took me by the hand to Damascus.
12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law of all the Jews living in Damascus,
13 came to me and standing by, said to me: Brother Saul, Receive thy sight. And I looked up upon him.
14 And he said, The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous, and to hear a voice from his mouth,
15 because thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what you have seen and heard.
16 So what are you waiting for? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name,
17 When I returned to Jerusalem and praying in the temple, I fell into a trance,
18 and I saw him, and he said to me: Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem, because [there] will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
19 I said: My Lord! they know that I am in you believers imprisoned and beat in every synagogue
20 and when spilled blood of Stephen, Thy witness, I was standing by, consenting to his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.
21 And He said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.

22 Before the word listened to him; and then lifted up their voice, saying: Away from the land of the! for he shall not live.
23 And as they cried out, threw clothes and threw dust into the air,
24 The chief captain commanded him in the castle, and bade scourged him, to know for what reason they cried so against him.
25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion that stood by, Is you to scourge a Roman citizen, and uncondemned?
26 Upon hearing this, the centurion went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what you want to do? This man - a Roman citizen.
27 Then the chief captain came to him and said: Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He said: Yes.
28 The chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this citizenship. Paul said, But I was born in it.
29 Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him. And the chief captain, having learned that he was a Roman citizen, he was afraid that bound him.
thirty The next day, wishing to know for sure, he was accused of the Jews, he released him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul, and set him before them.

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