and suddenly a sound came from heaven like a rushing violent wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.

Now this was the passage of Scripture which he was reading:

“Like a sheep He was led to the slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
So He does not open His mouth.

Immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized;

and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet descending, lowered by its four corners to the earth,

“I was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance I saw a vision of an object coming down from heaven, like a huge sheet being lowered by the four corners; and [it descended until] it came right down to me,

For a period of about forty years He put up with their behavior in the wilderness.

“Men, why are you doing these things? We too are only men of the same nature as you, bringing the good news to you, so that you turn from these useless and meaningless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything that is in them.

So then, being God’s children, we should not think that the Divine Nature (deity) is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination or skill of man.

And coming to [see] us, he took Paul’s [wide] band (belt, sash) and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this same way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this band, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles (pagans).’”

Then Paul replied, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart [like this]? For I am ready not only to be bound and imprisoned, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”