Acts 22:17-29 - Paul's Call To Preach To The Gentiles

¹⁷ "When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw him saying to me, 'Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹ And I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you. ²⁰ When the blood of Stephen your witness was shed, I also was standing by and approving, and keeping the garments of those who were killing him.'

²¹ And he said to me, 'Go; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

²² Up to this word they listened to him, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he ought not to live."

²³ And as they were crying out and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, ²⁴ the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and commanded him to be examined by scourging so that he might find out the reason why they were shouting against him that way. ²⁵ But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."

²⁷ So the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes."

²⁸ The commander answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."

²⁹ So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately; and the commander also was afraid when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.