The crowd listened to Paul until
he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Rid
the earth of him! He's not fit to live!"
As they were shouting and throwing off their
cloaks and flinging dust into the air, the commander ordered Paul to
be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and
questioned in order to find out why the people were shouting at him
like this.
Citizenship
As they stretched him out to flog him, Paul said to the
centurion standing there, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman
citizen who hasn't even been found guilty?" When the centurion
heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. "What are
you going to do?" he asked. "This man is a Roman
citizen."
The commander went to Paul and asked, "Tell
me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes, I am," he
answered.
Then the commander said, "I had to pay a big
price for my citizenship." "But I was born a
citizen," Paul replied.
Those
who were about to question him withdrew immediately. The commander
himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman
citizen, in chains.
Sanhedrin assembled
The next day, since the
commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by
the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the
Sanhedrin to assemble.
Then he brought Paul and had him stand before
them.
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