Acts 22:1-13 ▼

1 |Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I am now making before you.|

2 When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he continued:

3 |I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today.

4 I persecuted this Way, even executing people, and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison,

5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. I also received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, and I was going there to tie up those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.

6 |But while I was on my way and approaching Damascus about noon, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.

7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?'

8 |I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' |He told me, 'I'm Jesus from Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'

9 The men who were with me saw the light but didn't understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

10 |Then I asked, 'What am I to do, Lord?' |The Lord told me, 'Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told everything you are destined to do.'

11 Since I could not see because of the brightness of the light, the men who were with me took me by the hand and led me into Damascus.

12 |A certain Ananias, who was a devout man with respect to the Law and who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,

13 came to me. He stood beside me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight!' At that moment I could see him.