Acts 22

1"Brothers and fathers, listen to me while I defend myself before you now."

1Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.

Note"Men, brethren, and fathers" is a formal opening for a public address, the kind used when speaking to an assembly. "Fathers" singles out the older men and the leaders in the crowd. The word rendered "defence" is the Greek *apologia*, the speech a person made to answer a charge, which is why Paul's speech is shaped like a courtroom reply even though no trial is under way.

2When the crowd heard him speaking to them in the Hebrew language, they grew even quieter. Paul went on:

2(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,)

NoteThe phrase "in the Hebrew tongue" covers both Hebrew and Aramaic, and here almost certainly means Aramaic, the everyday spoken language of Judea in Paul's day. The crowd would have expected a man accused of siding with non-Jews to address them in Greek. Hearing their own language instead is what quiets them.

3"I am a Jew. I was born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, but I was raised here in this city. I was trained by Gamaliel in the strict keeping of the law of our ancestors. I was as eager to serve God as every one of you is today.

3I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day.

NoteTarsus was a large city in Cilicia, in what is now southern Turkey, known for its schools. Gamaliel was one of the most respected Pharisee teachers in Jerusalem; he appears earlier in Acts 5. "At the feet of" is the standard idiom for being someone's pupil, since students sat on the floor while the teacher sat raised. "Zealous" translates a word for burning, active devotion, the same root behind "Zealot"; it implies commitment expressed in action, not just feeling.

4I hunted down the people of this Way and had some of them put to death. I arrested both men and women and threw them into prison.

4And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

Note"This way" was one of the earliest names for the followers of Jesus, used before the label "Christian" became common. It refers to a way of life and travel along a road, so the group was known as the people of the Way.

5The high priest and the whole council of elders can back up what I am saying. I even got letters from them to our fellow Jews in Damascus. I went there to tie up the believers who were living there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

5As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.

Note"All the estate of the elders" means the whole body of elders, the ruling council in Jerusalem. The "letters" were something like warrants: documents of introduction and authority that would persuade synagogue leaders in another city to hand over members of their own community. Damascus lay roughly 135 miles northeast of Jerusalem, outside Judea, so the high priest's authority there rested on the cooperation of local Jewish communities rather than on any power to police foreign territory.

6"As I was traveling and getting close to Damascus, around noon, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed all around me.

6And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

NoteMidday is when the sun is at its strongest and when travelers usually stopped to rest. The detail is part of the account, not a stray time stamp: the light was noticeable at the hour when ordinary light is brightest.

7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you attacking me?'

7And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

NoteSaul is the Hebrew name Paul was given at birth, after Israel's first king. Paul is the Roman form of his name, which he uses in Greek and Roman settings. Both names belong to the same man from the start; he does not change names at this moment.

8I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?' He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one you are attacking.'

8And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

9The men with me saw the light and were afraid, but they did not make out the voice of the one speaking to me.

9And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

NoteThe Greek here says the men did not hear the voice in the sense of catching what it said, while the account in Acts 9:7 says they heard a voice. The Greek verb can mean either registering a sound or understanding speech, and the two verses use its two different grammatical constructions. The plain sense is that the others knew a voice was speaking but could not make out the words.

10I said, 'What should I do, Lord?' The Lord told me, 'Get up and go into Damascus. There you will be told everything you have been assigned to do.'

10And I said, What shall I do, LORD? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

11The brightness of that light had left me unable to see, so the men with me led me by the hand into Damascus.

11And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.

12A man named Ananias lived there. He carefully kept the law, and all the Jews living in Damascus spoke well of him.

12And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,

NoteThis Ananias is a believer living in Damascus. He is not the high priest Ananias who appears in the next chapter, nor the Ananias of Acts 5. Paul mentions that he "carefully kept the law" and had a good name among the Jews of Damascus because those facts matter to the crowd he is addressing: the man who brought him into the movement was a scrupulously observant Jew.

13He came to me, stood beside me, and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' At that very moment I looked up and could see him.

13Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.

14He said, 'The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know what he wants, to see the Righteous One, and to hear him speak with his own mouth.

14And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

Note"That Just One" translates a title, the Righteous One, used in this period for the figure God would send. Stephen uses the same title in Acts 7:52. It is a name, not a description Paul is adding.

15You will be his witness to everyone, telling what you have seen and heard.

15For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

16So what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.'

16And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

NoteThe Greek word behind "be baptized" means to dip or immerse. Washing rituals were already familiar in Jewish practice, so the image of water removing defilement would not have been strange to this audience. "Calling on the name of the Lord" is an Old Testament phrase for appealing to God by name in prayer.

17"Later I came back to Jerusalem. While I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance

17And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance;

NoteA "trance" here translates *ekstasis*, a state in which a person's ordinary awareness is suspended and they see or hear something others do not. The word describes the condition, not the content.

18and saw him saying to me, 'Hurry. Get out of Jerusalem right away, because the people here will not accept what you tell them about me.'

18And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me.

19I said, 'Lord, they know that I went from synagogue to synagogue, jailing and beating the people who believed in you.

19And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:

NoteA synagogue was the local meeting house for prayer and reading of scripture, and it also functioned as a community court. Its leaders could discipline members, including by flogging. That is why Paul can speak of beating people "in every synagogue": he was working through the synagogues' own disciplinary machinery, not attacking them from outside.

20And when the blood of Stephen, your witness, was spilled, I was standing there myself, agreeing to his death and guarding the coats of the men who killed him.'

20And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.

Note"Martyr" here is the ordinary Greek word *martys*, meaning witness, the same word used of Paul himself in verse 15. Only later did the English word narrow to mean someone killed for their faith. Stephen's death is told in Acts 7. Those carrying out a stoning stripped off their outer garments to throw freely, and the witnesses in a capital case were required to cast the first stones, so minding the coats put Paul at the center of the proceeding rather than on its edge.

21But he said to me, 'Go. I am sending you far away from here, to the Gentiles.'"

21And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.

Note"Gentiles" simply means non-Jews, everyone outside Israel. The word is not an insult; it is the standard term for the rest of the world's nations.

22The crowd listened to Paul until he said that. Then they raised their voices and shouted, "Get rid of him! Wipe him off the earth! He should not be allowed to live!"

22And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.

23They kept shouting, throwing off their coats, and tossing dust into the air.

23And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air,

NoteThrowing off outer garments and flinging dust in the air were recognized public gestures of outrage and horror, the crowd equivalent of tearing one's clothes. They signal fury at what the crowd hears as an offense against God, not preparation to fight.

24So the commander ordered that Paul be taken into the fort. He told his men to question Paul while whipping him, so he could find out why the crowd was screaming at him like this.

24The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him.

Note"The castle" is the Antonia fortress, the Roman barracks built against the northwest corner of the temple courts, with stairs running down into them. "Examined by scourging" describes a standard Roman method of interrogation: the prisoner was whipped while being questioned, on the assumption that pain produced the truth. It was normal procedure for slaves and non-citizens. The "chief captain" is a tribune, the officer commanding a cohort of roughly a thousand men.

25As they were tying Paul down with leather straps, Paul said to the officer standing there, "Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who has not even been tried and found guilty?"

25And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?

NoteThe "thongs" are leather straps used to stretch a prisoner out and hold him still for the lash. A centurion commanded roughly eighty to a hundred men. Roman law protected citizens from being flogged and from punishment before trial, so Paul's question names two separate illegalities at once: whipping a citizen, and punishing a man not yet convicted of anything.

26When the officer heard that, he went to the commander and said, "Be careful what you do. This man is a Roman citizen."

26When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman.

27The commander came to Paul and asked, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," Paul said.

27Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea.

28The commander said, "I paid a lot of money to become a citizen." Paul answered, "But I was born one."

28And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born.

NoteRoman citizenship could be inherited, granted for service, or, in this period, effectively bought through bribes to officials. The commander's remark that he "obtained this freedom" with "a great sum" points to that practice. Paul's reply that he was born a citizen quietly outranks him: inherited citizenship was the more respectable kind.

29The men who were about to question him backed away at once. The commander himself was afraid when he realized he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

29Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

NoteMerely binding a citizen for flogging was itself an offense that could end an officer's career, which is why the commander is alarmed even though the whipping never happened.

30The next day the commander wanted to know for certain what the Jews were accusing Paul of. So he freed him from his chains and ordered the chief priests and their whole council to meet. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand in front of them.

30On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them.

Note"All their council" is the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish council in Jerusalem, made up of chief priests, elders and scribes, traditionally seventy-one members. "Brought Paul down" is literal geography: the fortress stood above the temple courts where the council met, so Paul was taken down the stairs from the barracks.