But when they had tied him for the flogging, Paul asked the captain who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman, and one who is uncondemned at that?"

When the captain heard that, he went to the colonel and reported it. Then he asked him, "What are you going to do? This man is a Roman citizen."

He ordered the captain to keep Paul in custody but to let him have freedom and not to prevent his friends from showing him kindness.

But the colonel was influenced by the pilot and the captain of the ship rather than by what Paul said.