22. The crowd listened to Paul until he said this. Then they began shouting, “Get rid of him! A man like this doesn’t deserve to live!”
23. They shouted and threw off their coats. They threw dust into the air.
24. Then the commander ordered the soldiers to take Paul into the army building and beat him. The commander wanted to make Paul tell why the people were shouting against him like this.
25. So the soldiers were tying him up, preparing to beat him. But Paul said to an officer there, “Do you have the right to beat a Roman citizen who has not been proven guilty?”
26. When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and told him about it. The officer said, “Do you know what you are doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”
27. The commander came to Paul and said, “Tell me, are you really a Roman citizen?”He answered, “Yes.”
28. The commander said, “I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.”But Paul said, “I was born a citizen.”