Acts 22:1-5 - Paul Defends Himself
1 "Brothers and Father, listen to the defense which I am about to make." 2 When they heard that he was speaking to them in Hebrew, they were still more quiet; and Paul went on: 3 "I am a Jew, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, but I was brought up in this city under the teaching of Gamaliel, and educated in accordance with the strict system of our ancestral Law. I was as zealous in God's service as any of you who are here to-day. 4 In my persecution of this Cause I did not stop even at the taking of life. I put in chains, and imprisoned, men and women alike-- 5 And to that the High Priest himself and all the Council can testify. For I had letters of introduction from them to our fellow Jews at Damascus, and I was on my way to that place, to bring those whom I might find there prisoners to Jerusalem for punishment.