Paul's Defense in Hebrew
Standing on the barracks steps, Paul quiets the mob by speaking Hebrew and tells his own story: a Pharisee trained under Gamaliel, a persecutor, blinded on the road. They listen until he says he was sent to the Gentiles. Stretched for the whip, he mentions his Roman birth.
22 1"Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you." 2When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they grew even more quiet. And he said:
3"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, raised in this city, trained at Gamaliel's feet in the strict law of our ancestors, as eager for God as all of you are today.
4I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify. From them I received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and went to bring those there as prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment."
6"Traveling and nearing Damascus about noon, a great light from heaven suddenly flashed around me."
7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"
8I answered, "Who are you, Lord?" He replied, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you're persecuting."
9"Those with me saw the light but didn't understand the voice of the one speaking to me."
10I said, "What should I do, Lord?" The Lord replied, "Get up and go into Damascus. There you'll be told all you've been appointed to do."
11"Since that light's brightness blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus."
12"A man named Ananias, devout by the law, well spoken of by all the Jews living there, 13came and stood by me and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' At that very hour I looked up and saw him."
14"He said, 'The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth; a a v14 "The Righteous One" is one of the New Testament's titles for Jesus — the sinless one Paul met on the Damascus road. 15for you will be his witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard. 16And now, why wait? Get up, be baptized, wash away your sins, calling on his name."
17"When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance,"
18and saw him saying to me, "Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because they won't accept your testimony about me."
19I said, "Lord, they themselves know that I went from synagogue to synagogue imprisoning and beating those who believed in you. 20When the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I stood by, approving and guarding the cloaks of those killing him.'"
21"And he said to me, 'Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"
22Up to that point they listened, then they raised their voices and shouted, "Erase such a man from the earth! He shouldn't be allowed to live!"
23And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24the commander ordered him taken into the barracks and whipped, to learn why they were shouting against him like this.
25As they stretched him out for the straps, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't been condemned?"
26Hearing this, the centurion went to the commander and reported it: "What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen."
27So the commander came and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.
28The commander said, "I paid a large sum for this citizenship." But Paul said, "I was born a citizen."
29So those about to question him withdrew at once; the commander was afraid, realizing he had bound a Roman citizen. 30The next day, wanting to know exactly why the Jews accused him, the commander freed Paul, ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble, brought Paul down, and set him before them.
