Acts 22
1 Men, brothers and fathers, hear now my defense to you! 2 Now having heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language they rather granted silence. And he said: 3 I am [a] Jewish man, having been born in Tarsus of Kilikia, having been reared in that city, having been educated before the feet of Gamaliel in every exactness of the law from [our] fathers, being [a] zealot of God just as you all are today, 4 I who persecuted this way until death, binding and delivering up to prison both men and women, 5 as also the chief-priests and every elder testifies of me, besides which having taken letters to the brothers, I went to Damascus to be bringing those being there also, [those] having been bound, to Jerusalem in order that they be punished. 6 Now it came to pass as I [was] going and drawing near to Damascus, around noon suddenly [a] great light shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard [a] voice saying to me: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? 8 So I answered: Who are [you], Lord? And he answered me: I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute. 9 Now those being with me beheld the light1, but they did not hear the voice speaking to me. 10 So I said: What shall I do, Lord? So the Lord said to me: Having arisen, be going to Damascus, and there it will be spoken to you concerning all which it is appointed for you to do. 11 Now as I did not see from the glory of that light, having been led by the hand by those being with me, we came to Damascus. 12 Now a certain Ananias, [a] man devout according to the law, being [well] testified by all Jews dwelling [there], 13 having come to me and having approached, he said to me: Brother Saul, regain [your] sight. And I in that hour looked up upon him. 14 So he said: The God of our fathers chose you to know his will and to see [his] just [one] and to hear [a] voice from his mouth, 15 because you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and have heard. 16 And what are you now [about] [to do]? Having arisen, you will be baptized and washed [from] your sins, having called upon his name. 17 Now it came to pass when I returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I came to be in [a] trance, 18 and saw him saying to me: Hurry and depart in haste from Jerusalem, for they will not receive your witness concerning me. 19 And I said: Lord, these were persuaded that I was imprisoning and beating in every synagogue those believing upon you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was poured out, I myself also was standing by and consenting and guarding the garments of those doing away with him. 21 And he said to me: Be going, for I will send you out far to the nations2.22 Now they heard him until this word, and they raised their voice saying: Be taking such [a one] from the land, for he is not fit to zoe-live3 . 23 And while they were crying out and throwing off their garments and throwing dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the military base, having said [for] him to be thoroughly questioned with [the] whip—in order that I know for what reason they thus cry out to him. 25 Now as they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion standing [there]: Is it allowed for you to be flogging [a] man [who is] Roman and uncondemned4? 26 Now having heard, the centurion having gone to the commander reported to him saying: What are you [about] to be doing? For this man is a Roman. 27 So having come, the commander said to him: Be telling me: Are you Roman? So he said: Yes. 28 So the centurion answered: I obtained this [my] citizenship from many sums of money. But Paul said: And I am [born] [such]. 29 Straightway therefore those [about] to be questioning him [with the whip] withdrew from him. And the commander feared, having known that he is Roman and that he had taken [him].
30 Now on the morrow, intending to know the certain [facts], the [reason] why he was accused by the Jews, he loosed him, and ordered the chief priests and all the counsel to come together, and having brought down Paul, he stood [him] before them.
1insert "and became afraid'': KD; as the text reads: Hp74
2i.e. the Gentiles
3from ZOE "ZOH-ay" (ζωη)—Life 'collectively', interdependent, interconnected. Although it means 'life' in the conventional sense (for example: Matt.9:18, Matt.27:63, Luke.2:36, Acts.25:24, Rom.7:2, 2Cor.1:8, 1Thes.4:17, 1Tim.5:10, Rev.19:20), Jesus uses ZOE exclusively of 'life eternal' (with the possible exceptions of Luke.15:13, Luke.16:25). The other N.T. writers use ZOE in both senses—temporal and eternal, generally clear from the context. The Father is the 'zoe-living God' (see Matt.16:16). The Septuagint (LXX) in Gen.2:7 has "...[God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of zoe-life, and the man became a zoe-living psyche-life" (and see 1Cor.15:45); and Gen.3:20 (LXX) "And Adam called his wife's name ZOE, because she was the mother of all zoe-living." Contrast PSYCHE (ψυχη): an individual manifestation of life/consciousness. See John.12:25 where both ZOE and PSYCHE occur. Greek also has the word BIOS (βιoς ) for 'life' in the sense of biological processes.
4i.e. hasn't been tried