Paul replied, "I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city; I beg you, let me speak to the people."

But when they stretched him out with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."

So the commander came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes."

The commander answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I was born a citizen."

So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately; and the commander also was afraid when he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had put him in chains.

This man was seized by the Jews, and was about to be killed by them, when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.

Up to this word they listened to him, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he ought not to live."

For we have found this man a pestilent fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.

But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, without trial, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now cast us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out."

The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.