Acts 22:1-5 - Paul Defends Himself
1 "Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense that I am now making before you." 2 When they heard him speaking to them in Hebrew, they became even more quiet, and he continued: 3 "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city and educated at the feet of Gamaliel in the strict ways of our ancestral Law. I am as zealous for God as all of you are today. 4 I persecuted this Way, even executing people, and kept tying up both men and women and putting them in prison, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. I also received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, and I was going there to tie up those who were there and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.