¹⁷ "And it happened that [when] I returned to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple courts, I was in a trance, ¹⁸ and saw him saying to me, 'Hurry and depart {quickly} from Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹ And I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue [to synagogue] I was imprisoning and beating those who believed in you. ²⁰ And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself also was standing near and was approving, and was guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.'

²¹ And he said to me, 'Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles!'"

²² Now they were listening to him until this word, and they raised their voices, saying, "Away with such a man from the earth! For it is not fitting [for] him to live!"

²³ And [while] they were screaming and throwing off [their] cloaks and throwing dust into the air, ²⁴ the military tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying he was to be examined with a lash so that he could find out for what reason they were crying out against him in this way. ²⁵ But when they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing there, "Is it permitted for you to flog a man [who is] a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

²⁶ And [when] the centurion heard [this], he went to the military tribune [and] reported [it], saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen!"

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

²⁸ And the military tribune replied, "I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I indeed was born [a citizen].

²⁹ Then immediately those who were about to examine him kept away from him, and the military tribune also was afraid [when he] realized that he was a Roman citizen and that {he had tied him up}.