Acts 22:14-30

14And he said, ‘1The God of our fathers has 2appointed you to know His will and to 3see the 4Righteous One and to hear an 5utterance from His mouth. 15For you will be 6a witness for Him to all men of 7what you have seen and heard. 16Now why do you delay? 8Get up and be baptized, and 9wash away your sins, 10calling on His name.’

17“It happened when I 11returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I 12fell into a trance, 18and I saw Him saying to me, ‘13Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ 19And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another 14I used to imprison and 15beat those who believed in You. 20And 16when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’ 21And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away 17to the Gentiles.’”

22They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “18Away with such a fellow from the earth, for 19he should not be allowed to live!” 23And as they were crying out and 20throwing off their cloaks and 21tossing dust into the air, 24the 22commander ordered him to be brought into 23the barracks, stating that he should be 24examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. 25But when they stretched him out 25with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it 26lawful for you to scourge 27a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?” 26When the centurion heard this, he went to the 28commander and told him, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.” 27The 29commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” And he said, “Yes.” 28The 30commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.” 29Therefore those who were about to 31examine him immediately 32let go of him; and the 33commander also 34was afraid when he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had 3536put him in chains.

30But on the next day, 37wishing to know for certain why he had been accused by the Jews, he 38released him and ordered the chief priests and all 39the 40Council to assemble, and brought Paul down and set him before them.