New International Version

Darby Bible Translation

“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”

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Paul's Defense to the Crowd

Brethren and fathers, hear my defence which I now make to you.

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When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said:

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And hearing that he addressed them in the Hebrew tongue, they kept the more quiet; and he says,

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“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.

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*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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I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,

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who have persecuted this way unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women;

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as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.

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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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“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

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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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I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’

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And I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

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“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.

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And *I* answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, *I* am Jesus the Nazaraean, whom *thou* persecutest.

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My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.

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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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“ ‘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.’

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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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My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.

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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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“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.

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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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He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.

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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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“Then he said: ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and to hear words from his mouth.

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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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You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.

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for thou shalt be a witness for him to all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

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And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’

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And now why lingerest thou? Arise and get baptised, and have thy sins washed away, calling on his name.

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“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance

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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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and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’

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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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“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you.

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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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And when the blood of your martyra Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

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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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“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

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And he said to me, Go, for *I* will send thee to the nations afar off.

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Paul the Roman Citizen

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!”

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Paul the Roman Citizen

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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As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

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And as they were crying, and throwing away their clothes, and casting dust into the air,

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the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. He directed that he be flogged and interrogated in order to find out why the people were shouting at him like this.

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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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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?”

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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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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.”

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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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The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.

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And the chiliarch coming up said to him, Tell me, Art *thou* a Roman? And he said, Yes.

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Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

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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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Those who were about to interrogate him withdrew immediately. The commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put Paul, a Roman citizen, in chains.

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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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Paul Before the Sanhedrin

The commander wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews. So the next day he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the members of the Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul and had him stand before them.

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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.

Parallel

New International Version

Darby Bible Translation

Acts 22

Acts 22