Paul speaks to the Jews
1Paul said to the Jews: ‘Friends, listen to what I say. I want to explain to you what I did. I did nothing wrong.’
2When the Jews heard that Paul was speaking in the Hebrew language, they became even quieter. He said to them:
3‘I am a Jew and I was born in the town of Tarsus in Cilicia, but I grew up here in Jerusalem. I learned from Gamaliel. I learned to obey all the laws of our forefathers and I have obeyed all the laws of God as all of you here today also obey Him.
4I did very bad things to the believers of The Way. I arrested men and women. I tied them and put them in jail. 5You can ask the high-priest and the Jewish_Council. They will tell you that I speak the truth. They also gave me letters that I gave to the Jews in Damascus so that I could arrest the believers in Damascus and bring them back to Jerusalem for the Jewish_Council to punish them.’
Paul tells the Jews how God changed his life
6Paul said: ‘But when I was going to Damascus, we came near the city. It was about noon when suddenly there was a bright light from the sky shining on me. 7I fell to the ground and I heard Someone who asked me: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?”
8I asked: “Who are You, Lord?” He said: “I am Jesus of Nazareth. You are persecuting Me.”
9The people who were with me saw the light but they did not hear the Person who was talking to me.
10I asked: “What must I do, Lord?” And the Lord said to me: “Get up and go to Damascus. Someone will tell you everything that I want you to do.”
11The light was so bright that I was blind. I could not see. The people who were with me took my hand and led me into Damascus. 12In Damascus there was a man named Ananias. He loved the Lord and served Him. Ananias lived as the Lord wants and he obeyed the laws, and all the Jews in Damascus knew that he was a good man. 13Ananias came to me and he said: “Saul, my friend, you can now see again.”
Immediately I could see again and I looked at him. 14Ananias said to me: “The God of our forefathers has chosen you to know what He wants to do. He also chose you to see the Righteous One and to hear his voice. 15God has chosen you to go and tell all the people the things that you saw and heard. 16Do not wait any longer. Stand up, and I will baptise you. Pray to the Lord. He will take away your sins.”
17Then I went back to Jerusalem. I was praying in the temple when I saw a vision. It was like a dream. 18Then I saw Jesus. He said to me: “You must hurry and get out of Jerusalem because the people of Jerusalem will not listen to what you say about Me.”
19I said to Him: “Lord, they know that I went to all the synagogues and that I arrested and beat the people who believe in You. 20And when the people killed Stephen, who told the people about You, I was there and I said they were doing a good thing. I also looked after the clothes of the people who killed him.”
21Then the Lord Jesus said to me: “You must go now. I will send you far away to the Gentiles.” ’
The Jews become angry with Paul
22The Jews listened to Paul until he talked about the Gentiles. Then they started to shout and said: ‘Take him away. Kill him. He must not live.’
23They did not want to listen to what Paul said. They shouted and waved their clothes and threw dust in the air. 24The Roman commander told the soldiers to take Paul to the place where the soldiers stayed and to beat him with a whip until he said what he had done wrong. The commander wanted to know why the Jews were angry with Paul. 25The soldiers started to tie Paul with chains to beat him. The captain was standing next to Paul when Paul said to him: ‘I am a Roman_citizen. You may not beat me with a whip, because a judge has not yet listened to me.’
26When the captain heard what Paul said, he went to the commander and said to him: ‘You may not beat this man. He is a Roman_citizen.’
27The commander came and he asked Paul: ‘Are you a Roman_citizen?’ Paul answered: ‘Yes.’
28The commander said to Paul: ‘I paid a lot of money to become a Roman_citizen.’
But Paul said: ‘I have been a Roman_citizen from the day that I was born.’
29The soldiers, who wanted to beat Paul with a whip, stopped immediately and the commander was afraid because he had tied Paul with chains and he knew that was wrong because Paul was a Roman_citizen.
Paul speaks to the Jewish_Council
30The commander wanted to know why the Jews accused Paul. So the next day he said Paul could come out of jail. Then the commander told the chief_priests and the Jewish_Council to come together. He took Paul to the Jewish_council and said Paul must stand in front of them.
