Acts 26:12-23 - Paul's Account Of His Conversion And Commission

¹² In {this activity} I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and full power of the chief priests. ¹³ In the middle of the day along the road, O king, I saw a light from heaven, more than the brightness of the sun, shining around me and those who were traveling with me. ¹⁴ And [when] we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Aramaic language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? [It is] hard for you to kick against the goads!'

¹⁵ So I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up and stand on your feet, because for this [reason] I have appeared to you, to appoint you a servant and witness both [to the things] in which you saw me and [to the things] in which I will appear to you, ¹⁷ rescuing you from the people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes [so that they] may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, [so that] they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'

¹⁹ "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰ but to those in Damascus first, and in Jerusalem and all the region of Judea and to the Gentiles, I proclaimed [that they should] repent and turn to God, doing deeds worthy of repentance. ²¹ On account of these [things] the Jews seized me in the temple [courts] [and] were attempting to kill [me]. ²² Therefore I have experienced help from God until this day, [and] I stand here testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except what both the prophets and Moses have said were going to happen, ²³ that the Christ was to suffer [and] that [as] the first of the resurrection from the dead, he was going to proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles."