1“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”
2When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.
Then Paul said: 3“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. 4I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5as 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.
6“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
8“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.
“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied. 9My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.
10“ ‘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.’ 11My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
12“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. 13He stood beside me and said, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I was able to see him.
14“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. 15You will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.’
17“When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord speaking to me. ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Leave Jerusalem immediately, because the people here will not accept your testimony about me.’
19“ ‘Lord,’ I replied, ‘these people know that I went from one synagogue to another to imprison and beat those who believe in you. 20And when the blood of your martyr22:20 Or witness Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’
21“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
Paul the Roman Citizen
22The 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!”
23As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24the 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. 25As 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?”
26When 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.”
27The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered.
28Then the commander said, “I had to pay a lot of money for my citizenship.”
“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.
29Those 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.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
30The 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.
1“各位父老兄弟，请听我解释！” 2在场的人听见保罗讲的是希伯来话，更加安静了。保罗说： 3“我是犹太人，生于基利迦的大数，在耶路撒冷长大，曾在迦玛列门下严格地按着我们祖先的律法接受教育，像你们今日一样热心事奉上帝。 4我曾经把信奉这道的男女信徒抓进监狱，迫害他们，置他们于死地。 5大祭司和众长老都可以为我作证。我还拿着他们写给大马士革的犹太人的信去拘捕那里的信徒，押回耶路撒冷受刑。
6“当我快到大马士革的时候，大约中午时分，突然从天上有一道强光四面照着我。 7我就扑倒在地，听见有声音对我说，‘扫罗！扫罗！你为什么迫害我？’ 8我回答说，‘主啊，你是谁？’他说，‘我就是你迫害的拿撒勒人耶稣！’ 9我的同伴虽然也看见那道强光，却听不懂那位说话者的声音。 10接着我又问，‘主啊！我该怎么办？’主说，‘起来，到大马士革去，那里会有人将指派给你的事告诉你。’
11“那道耀眼的光照得我双眼失明，于是同行的人拉着我的手，带我进了大马士革。 12那里有一个严守律法的虔诚人名叫亚拿尼亚，深受当地所有犹太人的尊敬。 13他来探望我，站在我身边说，‘扫罗弟兄，重见光明吧！’就在那一刻，我抬头看见了他。 14他又说，‘我们祖先的上帝拣选了你，要你明白祂的旨意，又让你亲自看见那位公义者、听到祂的声音。 15因为你将做祂的见证人，把所见所闻告诉万民。 16现在你还等什么呢？起来求告祂的名，接受洗礼，洗净你的罪。’
17“后来，我回到耶路撒冷，在圣殿里祷告的时候，进入异象， 18看见主对我说，‘赶快离开耶路撒冷，因为这里的人不会接受你为我做的见证。’ 19我说，‘主啊！他们都知道我从前搜遍各会堂，逮捕、毒打信你的人。 20当你的见证人司提凡为你流血殉道时，我自己也站在旁边赞同杀他的人，还替他们保管衣服。’ 21主却对我说，‘去吧！我要差遣你到遥远的外族人那里。’”
因罗马公民身份而免刑
22众人一听到这里，就高喊：“从世上除掉这样的人！他不配活着！” 23百姓咆哮着脱掉外衣，扬起尘土。 24千夫长下令把保罗押回营房，预备鞭打拷问他，要查出众人向他咆哮的缘由。 25他们把保罗绑起来正要鞭打，保罗问旁边的百夫长：“未经定罪就拷打罗马公民合法吗？”
26百夫长一听，立刻去禀告千夫长说：“你看该怎么办？这人是罗马公民。”
27千夫长就来问保罗：“告诉我，你是罗马公民吗？”
保罗说：“是的。”
28千夫长说：“我花了很多钱才当上罗马公民！”
保罗说：“我生来就是。”
29那些准备拷问保罗的士兵立刻退下了。千夫长也害怕起来，因为发现保罗是罗马公民，他却下令捆绑了保罗。
保罗在公会申辩
30第二天，千夫长想知道保罗被犹太人指控的真相，就为保罗松了绑，并招聚了祭司长和全公会的人，然后将保罗带来，让他站在众人面前。
