| 章 |
| 22:1 |
Brethren and fathers, hear my defence which I now make to you.
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| 22:2 |
And hearing that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more quiet; and he says,
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| 22:3 |
*I* am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, educated according to [the] exactness of the law of [our] fathers, being zealous for God, as *ye* are all this day;
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| 22:4 |
who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women;
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| 22:5 |
as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the elderhood: from whom also, having received letters to the brethren, I went to Damascus to bring those also who were there, bound, to Jerusalem, to be punished.
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| 22:6 |
And it came to pass, as I was journeying and drawing near to Damascus, that, about mid-day, there suddenly shone out of heaven a great light round about me.
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| 22:7 |
And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
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| 22:8 |
And *I* answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, *I* am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom *thou* persecutest.
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| 22:9 |
But they that were with me beheld the light, [and were filled with fear], but heard not the voice of him that was speaking to me.
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| 22:10 |
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all things which it is appointed thee to do.
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| 22:11 |
And as I could not see, through the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came to Damascus.
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| 22:12 |
And a certain Ananias, a pious man according to the law, borne witness to by all the Jews who dwelt [there],
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| 22:13 |
coming to me and standing by me, said to me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And *I*, in the same hour, received my sight and saw him.
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| 22:14 |
And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen thee beforehand to know his will, and to see the just one, and to hear a voice out of his mouth;
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| 22:15 |
for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard.
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| 22:16 |
And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name.
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| 22:17 |
And it came to pass when I had returned to Jerusalem, and as I was praying in the temple, that I became in ecstasy,
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| 22:18 |
and saw him saying to me, Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.
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| 22:19 |
And *I* said, Lord, they themselves know that *I* was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those that believe on thee;
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| 22:20 |
and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was shed, I also myself was standing by and consenting, and kept the clothes of them who killed him.
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| 22:21 |
And he said to me, Go, for *I* will send thee to the nations afar off.
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| 22:22 |
And they heard him until this word, and lifted up their voice, saying, Away with such a one as that from the earth, for it was not fit he should live.
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| 22:23 |
And as they were crying, and throwing away their clothes, and casting dust into the air,
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| 22:24 |
the chiliarch commanded him to be brought into the fortress, saying that he should be examined by scourging, that he might ascertain for what cause they cried thus against him.
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| 22:25 |
But as they stretched him forward with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood [by], Is it lawful for you to scourge a man [who is] a Roman and uncondemned?
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| 22:26 |
And the centurion, having heard it, went and reported it to the chiliarch, saying, What art thou going to do? for this man is a Roman.
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| 22:27 |
And the chiliarch coming up said to him, Tell me, Art *thou* a Roman? And he said, Yes.
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| 22:28 |
And the chiliarch answered, *I*, for a great sum, bought this citizenship. And Paul said, But *I* was also [free] born.
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| 22:29 |
Immediately therefore those who were going to examine him left him, and the chiliarch also was afraid when he ascertained that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
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| 22:30 |
And on the morrow, desirous to know the certainty [of the matter] why he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and having brought Paul down set him before them.
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