arted a rebellion and
led four thousand outlaws into the desert?" Paul answered, "I am a Jew,
of Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of a great city. I beg of you, let me
speak to the people."

So when the commander had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps
and motioned with his hand to the people, and when there was a great
silence, he spoke to them in Hebrew: "Brothers, and fathers, listen to
the defense I now make before you." When they heard him speaking to them
in Hebrew they were all the more quiet; so he went on to say, "I am a
Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated
under Gamaliel in all the strictness of our law. I was as eager to serve
God as you all are to-day. I persecuted and even killed the followers of
Jesus. I bound and put in prison both men and women, as the high priest
himself and all the elders can testify.

"It was also from them that I had letters to our fellow Jews in
Damascus, and I was on my way to bring the Christians who were there
back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment. While I was on my way not
far from Damascus, suddenly, about noon, a bright light from heaven
shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,
'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who art thou, Lord?' I asked. He
answered, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, the one whom you are persecuting.'
And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Rise, and
go to Damascus, and there it shall be told you what you are to do.' And
when I could not see because of the bright light, I went to Damascus,
led by the hand of those who were with me. And one Ananias, a religious
man, well thought of by the Jews, came and, standing beside me, said,
'Brother Saul, receive your sight,' and that very minute I received my
sight and saw him. And he said to me, 'The God of our fathers has chosen
you to know his will and to see the Righteous One. For you shall be his
witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.' And the Lord said
to me, 'Go, for I will send you far away to those who are not Jews.'"

Up to this time the people had listened to him, but when they heard
these words they shouted, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for
he is not fit to live," and they threw off their clothes and flung dust
into the air until the commander ordered Paul to be taken into the
castle and examined, by flogging, to find out why the people had shouted
so against him. When they had tied him u