Acts 22-23

Acts 22

¹‘Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defence now unto you;' --

²and they having heard that in the Hebrew dialect he was speaking to them, gave the more silence, and he saith, --

³‘I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day.

⁴‘And this way I persecuted unto death, binding and delivering up to prisons both men and women,

⁵as also the chief priest doth testify to me, and all the eldership; from whom also having received letters unto the brethren, to Damascus, I was going on, to bring also those there bound to Jerusalem that they might be punished,

⁶and it came to pass, in my going on and coming nigh to Damascus, about noon, suddenly out of the heaven there shone a great light round about me,

⁷I fell also to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why me dost thou persecute?

⁸‘And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? and he said unto me, I am Jesus the Nazarene whom thou dost persecute --

⁹and they who are with me the light did see, and became afraid, and the voice they heard not of him who is speaking to me --

¹⁰and I said, What shall I do, Lord? and the Lord said unto me, Having risen, go on to Damascus, and there it shall be told thee concerning all things that have been appointed for thee to do.

¹¹‘And when I did not see from the glory of that light, being led by the hand by those who are with me, I came to Damascus,

¹²and a certain one, Ananias, a pious man according to the law, being testified to by all the Jews dwelling there,

¹³having come unto me and stood by me, said to me, Saul, brother, look up; and I the same hour did look up to him;

¹⁴and he said, The God of our fathers did choose thee beforehand to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice out of his mouth,

¹⁵because thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard;

¹⁶and now, why tarriest thou? having risen, baptize thyself, and wash away thy sins, calling upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁷‘And it came to pass when I returned to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the temple, I came into a trance,

¹⁸and I saw him saying to me, Haste and go forth in haste out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive thy testimony concerning me;

¹⁹and I said, Lord, they -- they know that I was imprisoning and was scourging in every synagogue those believing on thee;

²⁰and when the blood of thy witness Stephen was being poured forth, I also was standing by and assenting to his death, and keeping the garments of those putting him to death;

²¹and he said unto me, Go, because to nations far off I will send thee.'

²²And they were hearing him unto this word, and they lifted up their voice, saying, ‘Away from the earth with such an one; for it is not fit for him to live.'

²³And they crying out and casting up their garments, and throwing dust into the air,

²⁴the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, saying, ‘By scourges let him be examined;' that he might know for what cause they were crying so against him.

²⁵And as he was stretching him with the thongs, Paul said unto the centurion who was standing by, ‘A man, a Roman, uncondemned -- is it lawful to you to scourge;'

²⁶and the centurion having heard, having gone near to the chief captain, told, saying, ‘Take heed what thou art about to do, for this man is a Roman;'

²⁷and the chief captain having come near, said to him, ‘Tell me, art thou a Roman?' and he said, ‘Yes;'

²⁸and the chief captain answered, ‘I, with a great sum, did obtain this citizenship;' but Paul said, ‘But I have been even born so.'

²⁹Immediately, therefore, they departed from him who are about to examine him, and the chief captain also was afraid, having learned that he is a Roman, and because he had bound him,

³⁰and on the morrow, intending to know the certainty wherefore he is accused by the Jews, he did loose him from the bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their sanhedrim to come, and having brought down Paul, he set him before them.

Acts 23

¹And Paul having earnestly beheld the sanhedrim, said, ‘Men, brethren, I in all good conscience have lived to God unto this day;'

²and the chief priest Ananias commanded those standing by him to smite him on the mouth,

³then Paul said unto him, ‘God is about to smite thee, thou whitewashed wall, and thou -- thou dost sit judging me according to the law, and, violating law, dost order me to be smitten!'

⁴And those who stood by said, ‘The chief priest of God dost thou revile?'

⁵and Paul said, ‘I did not know, brethren, that he is chief priest: for it hath been written, Of the ruler of thy people thou shalt not speak evil;'

⁶and Paul having known that the one part are Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, cried out in the sanhedrim, ‘Men, brethren, I am a Pharisee -- son of a Pharisee -- concerning hope and rising again of dead men I am judged.'

⁷And he having spoken this, there came a dissension of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, and the crowd was divided,

⁸for Sadducees, indeed, say there is no rising again, nor messenger, nor spirit, but Pharisees confess both.

⁹And there came a great cry, and the scribes of the Pharisees' part having arisen, were striving, saying, ‘No evil do we find in this man; and if a spirit spake to him, or a messenger, we may not fight against God;'

¹⁰and a great dissension having come, the chief captain having been afraid lest Paul may be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiery, having gone down, to take him by force out of the midst of them, and to bring him to the castle.

¹¹And on the following night, the Lord having stood by him, said, ‘Take courage, Paul, for as thou didst fully testify the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so it behoveth thee also at Rome to testify.'

¹²And day having come, certain of the Jews having made a concourse, did anathematize themselves, saying neither to eat nor to drink till they may kill Paul;

¹³and they were more than forty who made this conspiracy by oath,

¹⁴who having come near to the chief priests and to the elders said, ‘With an anathema we did anathematize ourselves -- to taste nothing till we have killed Paul;

¹⁵now, therefore, ye, signify ye to the chief captain, with the sanhedrim, that to-morrow he may bring him down unto you, as being about to know more exactly the things concerning him; and we, before his coming nigh, are ready to put him to death.'

¹⁶And the son of Paul's sister having heard of the lying in wait, having gone and entered into the castle, told Paul,

¹⁷and Paul having called near one of the centurions, said, ‘This young man lead unto the chief captain, for he hath something to tell him.'

¹⁸He indeed, then, having taken him, brought him unto the chief captain, and saith, ‘The prisoner Paul, having called me near, asked me this young man to bring unto thee, having something to say to thee.'

¹⁹And the chief captain having taken him by the hand, and having withdrawn by themselves, inquired, ‘What is that which thou hast to tell me?'

²⁰and he said -- ‘The Jews agreed to request thee, that to-morrow to the sanhedrim thou mayest bring down Paul, as being about to enquire something more exactly concerning him;

²¹thou, therefore, mayest thou not yield to them, for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, who did anathematize themselves -- not to eat nor to drink till they kill him, and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from thee.'

²²The chief captain, then, indeed, let the young man go, having charged him to tell no one, ‘that these things thou didst shew unto me;'

²³and having called near a certain two of the centurions, he said, ‘Make ready soldiers two hundred, that they may go on unto Caesarea, and horsemen seventy, and spearmen two hundred, from the third hour of the night;

²⁴beasts also provide, that, having set Paul on, they may bring him safe unto Felix the governor;'

²⁵he having written a letter after this description:

²⁶‘Claudius Lysias, to the most noble governor Felix, hail:

²⁷This man having been taken by the Jews, and being about to be killed by them -- having come with the soldiery, I rescued him, having learned that he is a Roman;

²⁸and, intending to know the cause for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their sanhedrim,

²⁹whom I found accused concerning questions of their law, and having no accusation worthy of death or bonds;

³⁰and a plot having been intimated to me against this man -- about to be of the Jews -- at once I sent unto thee, having given command also to the accusers to say the things against him before thee; be strong.'

³¹Then, indeed, the soldiers according to that directed them, having taken up Paul, brought him through the night to Antipatris,

³²and on the morrow, having suffered the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to the castle;

³³those having entered into Caesarea, and delivered the letter to the governor, did present also Paul to him.

³⁴And the governor having read it, and inquired of what province he is, and understood that he is from Cilicia;

³⁵‘I will hear thee -- said he -- when thine accusers also may have come;' he also commanded him to be kept in the praetorium of Herod.