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

¹⁷ "Then I returned to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the Temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸ and saw the Lord saying to me, "Hurry up and get out of Jerusalem at once, because the people won't accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹ "I said, "Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I kept imprisoning and beating those who believe in you. ²⁰ Even when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing there, approving it and guarding the coats of those who were killing him.'

²¹ "Then he told me, "Go, because I'll send you far away to the gentiles.'"

²² Up to this point they listened to him, but then they began to shout, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He's not fit to go on living!"

²³ While they were yelling, tossing their coats around, and throwing dirt into the air, ²⁴ the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks and told the soldiers to beat and question him in order to find out why the people were yelling at him like this. ²⁵ But when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul asked the centurion who was standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn't been condemned?"

²⁶ When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and told him, "What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!"

²⁷ So the tribune went and asked Paul, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.

²⁸ Then the tribune replied, "I paid a lot of money for this citizenship of mine."

²⁹ Paul said, "But I was born a citizen." Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up.