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childrensbiblestudy.com
text of Acts |
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22:1-21
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"Brothers and fathers,
listen now to my defense." When they heard him speak to them in
Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus
of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was
thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous
for God as any of you are today.
I persecuted the followers of this Way to
their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into
prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I
even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and
went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be
punished.
About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a
bright light from heaven flashed around me. I fell to the ground and
heard a voice say to me, "Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute
me?"
"Who are you, Lord?" I asked. "I
am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting," he replied. My
companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of
him who was speaking to me.
"What shall I do, Lord?' I asked. "Get
up," the Lord said, "and go into Damascus. There you will
be told all that you have been assigned to do." My companions
led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the
light had blinded me.
A man named Ananias came to see me. He was a
devout observer of the law and highly respected by all the Jews
living there. He stood beside me and said, "Brother Saul,
receive your sight!" And at that very moment I was able to see
him.
Then he said: "The God of our fathers has
chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear
words from his mouth. You will be his witness to all men of what you
have seen and heard. And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be
baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name."
When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at
the temple, I fell into a trance and saw the Lord speaking.
"Quick!" he said to me. "Leave Jerusalem immediately,
because they will not accept your testimony about me.'"
"Lord," I replied, "these men know
that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those
who believe in you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was
shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of
those who were killing him."
Then the Lord said to me, "Go; I will send
you far away to the Gentiles."
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