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

¹⁷ "After my return to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the temple, ¹⁸ "I fell into a trance and saw him saying to me, "'Make haste and go quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not receive your testimony concerning me.'

¹⁹ "'Lord,' I replied, 'they themselves well know that I was beating and imprisoning in synagogue after synagogue those who believed in you, ²⁰ "'and when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by and consenting, and holding the garments of his murders.'

²¹ "'Depart,' he said to me, 'for I will send you forth, far hence, to the Gentiles.'"

²² Until they heard this last statement, the people were listening to Paul, but now they roared out. "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He is not fit to live!"

²³ When they continued to shout, throwing their clothes into the air, and flinging dust around, ²⁴ the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and examined under the lash, to learn for what reason the people were thus crying out against him. ²⁵ But when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing near, "If a man is a Roman citizen, and uncondemned, is it lawful for you to scourge him?"

²⁶ When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him. "What are you intending to do? This man is a Roman citizen."

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

²⁸ "I paid a large sum to get this citizenship," said the tribune. "But I was citizen-born," said Paul.

²⁹ Then those who were about to scourge him, immediately left him. And the tribune too, was afraid, when he learned that Paul was a Roman citizen, for he had had him bound.