Acts Chapter 22
Paul Recounts His Conversion
1 “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense.” 2 When they heard him speaking Hebrew, they got quieter.
3 “I’m a Jew; I was born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city. I was educated under Gamaliel strictly according to the law of our ancestors and was as zealous for God as you are today. 4 I persecuted The Way to death, binding and jailing men and women 5 as the high priest and presbytery can confirm. I got letters to go to Damascus and bind the ones that had gone there and extradite them to Jerusalem to punish them.
Acts 22:1-5
6 As I got close to Damascus about noon, a bright light suddenly shined around me. 7 I fell on the ground and heard a voice, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8 “I answered, ‘Who are you, Sir?’
‘I’m Jesus the Nazarene that you’re persecuting.’
9 “The ones that were with me saw the light but couldn’t make out what he was saying to me.
10 “I said, ‘What should I do, Lord!?’
“‘Get up and go into Damascus. Somebody there will tell you.’
11 “When I couldn’t see from the brilliance of that light, the ones that were with me led me by the hand into Damascus.
Acts 22:6-11
12 “A man was there named Ananias. He was devout according to the Law, a man the Jews living there vouched for. 13 He came and stood by me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ I looked at him that very hour.
14 “He said, ‘Our ancestors’ God chose you ahead of time to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear him. 15 You’re to speak for him to all people about what you’ve seen and heard. 16 Now why wait? Get baptized and wash your sins away, calling on him.’
Acts 22:12-16
17 “When I came back to Jerusalem and was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance, 18 and saw him telling me, ‘Get out of Jerusalem now; they won’t accept your testimony about me.’
19 “I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I was jailing people in bonds who believed in you. 20 When Stephen your witness shed his blood, I stood by approving and keeping the clothes for the ones that were killing him.”
21 “He said, ‘Go; I’m sending you away to the Gentiles.’”
Acts 22:17-21
Responses to His Address
22 They listened that far, but then they started shouting, “Away with such a fellow. Don’t let him live!” 23 They started yelling and tearing their clothes and throwing dust in the air. 24 The tribune ordered the soldiers to bring him into the barracks and interrogate him by scourging to find out why they were shouting about him that way.
25 As they were stretching him out with straps, Paul said to the centurion supervising, “Is it legal to scourge a Roman that hasn’t been condemned?”
26 When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune, “What are you doing? This man’s a Roman!”
27 The tribune came and said, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”
“Yes.”
28 He responded, “This citizenship cost me a lot of money.”
Paul said, “I was born Roman.”
29 At once the ones that were going to interrogate him stepped away. The tribune was worried when he found out Paul was a Roman and he’d bound him.
Acts 22:22-29
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
30 The next day he was still wanting to know why the Jews were accusing Paul. The tribune took off Paul’s bonds and commanded the chief priests and full Sanhedrin to meet. He took Paul down and put him in front of them. 1 Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, in good conscience I’ve conducted myself as a citizen toward God up to this day.” 2 Ananias the high priest commanded the ones that were standing by him to slap him in the mouth.
3 Paul said, “God’s going to slap you, you whitewashed wall! You sit judging me by the Law and command them to slap me in violation of the Law.”
4 The ones that were standing there said, “You insult God’s high priest?”
5 Paul said, “Brothers, I was not aware that he was a high priest. The scripture does say,
‘Don’t say bad things about a ruler of your people’” [Ex 22:28].
Acts 22:30-23:5