Acts 22

²And Stephen declared: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,

¹⁶At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them.

²⁶Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

⁶Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

¹Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.”

¹⁷After three days, he called together the leaders of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was taken prisoner in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

⁴⁰Having received permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned to the crowd. A great hush came over the crowd, and he addressed them in Hebrew:

⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

⁶as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

⁵They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the strictest sect of our religion.

¹¹“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time.

³⁹But Paul answered, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no ordinary city. Now I beg you to allow me to speak to the people.”

²⁰When they heard this, they glorified God. Then they said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.

¹⁹‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

¹³I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.

¹⁴And the grace of our Lord overflowed to me, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

⁹So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

¹And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

²God-fearing men buried Stephen and mourned deeply over him.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁷This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation!”

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest

²and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

⁶⁶At daybreak the council of the elders of the people, both the chief priests and scribes, met together. They led Jesus into their Sanhedrin and said,

²¹At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.”

²⁶Brothers, children of Abraham, and you Gentiles who fear God, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent.

¹⁴And now he is here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.”

¹²In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

¹³About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.

³As Saul drew near to Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”

¹⁶He held in His right hand seven stars, and a sharp double-edged sword came from His mouth. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.

²But Abram replied, “O Lord God, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

⁶Then he placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became subject to David and brought him tribute. So the Lord made David victorious wherever he went.

²There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

⁹Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the Lord, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.

⁴⁵Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

¹³I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.

¹Some time later God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he answered.

¹⁰Then the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”

⁴When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered.

⁹So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

⁷And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.

⁴⁰He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.

⁴¹Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.

¹⁴For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”

⁴⁵Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

¹⁴We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

¹⁵‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

⁷The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless. They heard the voice but did not see anyone.

⁷Only I, Daniel, saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but a great terror fell upon them, and they ran and hid themselves.

¹³About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions.

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.

³⁰In response, Jesus said, “This voice was not for My benefit, but yours.

³⁰Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

¹⁶‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.

¹⁷I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

¹²There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the law who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,

¹³came and stood beside me. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘receive your sight.’ And at that moment I could see him.

³⁷When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

⁸Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He shows sinners the way.

⁹He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

⁸Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord; I flee to You for refuge.

⁸Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could not see a thing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

⁹For three days he was without sight, and he did not eat or drink anything.

¹¹Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹⁶I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These things I will do for them, and I will not forsake them.

²²“Cornelius the centurion has sent us,” they said. “He is a righteous and God-fearing man with a good reputation among the whole Jewish nation. A holy angel instructed him to request your presence in his home so he could hear a message from you.”

³Therefore, brothers, select from among you seven men confirmed to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will assign this responsibility to them

¹²Demetrius has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also testify for him, and you know that our testimony is true.

⁴Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few leading women.

⁸through glory and dishonor, slander and praise; viewed as imposters, yet genuine;

⁷Furthermore, he must have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the snare of the devil.

¹⁷So Ananias went to the house, and when he arrived, he placed his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸At that instant, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. He got up and was baptized,

¹⁶no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a beloved brother. He is especially beloved to me, but even more so to you, both in person and in the Lord.

¹²I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

⁸And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?

¹⁶‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.

¹⁵“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

¹³The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.

¹⁴You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

¹¹The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about Me in Jerusalem, so also you must testify in Rome.”

²⁰For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

²⁷And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

⁴⁷and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.

⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

³⁹We are witnesses of all that He did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. And although they put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree,

⁴⁰God raised Him up on the third day and caused Him to be seen—

³⁸Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

²¹And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

⁵He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

²²let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

¹¹And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

²¹And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

¹I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to gain, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

²I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of it I do not know, but God knows.

⁹The next day at about the sixth hour, as the men were approaching the city on their journey, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

¹⁰He became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

²⁶When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.

²⁷Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and described how Saul had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him on the road to Damascus, and how Saul had spoken boldly in that city in the name of Jesus.

²⁰First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.

¹⁰On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

¹⁸Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days.

²⁹He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews, but they tried to kill him.

¹⁴And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.

⁶not to the many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.

⁷But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country stay out of the city.

¹⁹Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

⁴I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison,

¹⁷But beware of men, for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues.

³But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

¹Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest

⁹So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

¹⁰And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority from the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were condemned to death, I cast my vote against them.

⁵⁸They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

¹And Saul was there, giving approval to Stephen’s death. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

³²Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.

¹³I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits, yet you hold fast to My name. You did not deny your faith in Me, even in the days of My faithful witness Antipas, who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

⁴⁸So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs.

⁶I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.

¹⁵“Go!” said the Lord. “This man is My chosen instrument to carry My name before the Gentiles and their kings, and before the people of Israel.

⁷For this reason I was appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a faithful and true teacher of the Gentiles. I am telling the truth; I am not lying about anything.

⁶This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

⁷I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace, given me through the working of His power.

¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted to preach the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.

⁸For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles.

¹³I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry

²⁴Then Festus said, “King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see this man. The whole Jewish community has petitioned me about him, both here and in Jerusalem, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.

³⁶For the crowd that followed him kept shouting, “Away with him!”

¹⁵At this, they shouted, “Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!” “Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” replied the chief priests.

¹⁸But they all cried out in unison: “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!”

⁵⁴On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him.

⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

¹³So David and his men proceeded along the road as Shimei went along the ridge of the hill opposite him. As Shimei went, he yelled curses, threw stones, and flung dust at David.

³Even as the fool walks along the road, his sense is lacking, and he shows everyone that he is a fool.

⁵⁸They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.

¹¹I frequently had them punished in the synagogues, and I tried to make them blaspheme. In my raging fury against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.

⁵³you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, and some another. And since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks.

¹⁰The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.

³¹While they were trying to kill him, the commander of the Roman regiment received a report that all Jerusalem was in turmoil.

³²Immediately he took some soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

²²The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered that they be stripped and beaten with rods.

²³And after striking them with many blows, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to guard them securely.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews, and they were about to kill him when I came with my troops to rescue him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen,

³⁷But Paul said to the officers, “They beat us publicly without a trial and threw us into prison, even though we are Roman citizens. And now do they want to send us away secretly? Absolutely not! Let them come themselves and escort us out!”

¹⁶I told them that it is not the Roman custom to hand a man over before he has had an opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself against their charges.

⁴³But the centurion, wanting to spare Paul’s life, thwarted their plan. He commanded those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he answered.

²⁸“I paid a high price for my citizenship,” said the commander. “But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

¹⁷Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.”

⁸The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews, and they were about to kill him when I came with my troops to rescue him. For I had learned that he is a Roman citizen,

²⁹At once those who were about to interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

³³The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

²⁴the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.

²⁵But as they stretched him out to strap him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”

³⁵Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.

³⁸So the officers relayed this message to the magistrates, who were alarmed to hear that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens.

³⁹They came to appease them and led them out, requesting that they leave the city.

²⁸and since I wanted to understand their charges against him, I brought him down to their Sanhedrin.

³³The commander came up and arrested Paul, ordering that he be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

²⁹“Short time or long,” Paul replied, “I wish to God that not only you but all who hear me this day may become what I am, except for these chains.”

¹¹Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “The Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

²¹At daybreak the apostles entered the temple courts as they had been told and began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles.

¹⁵Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.”