1. Paul looked at the Jewish council and said, “Brothers, I have lived my life in a good way before God up to this day.”
2. Ananias, the high priest, heard this and told the men who were standing near Paul to hit him on his mouth.
3. Paul said to Ananias, “God will hit you too! You are like a wall that has been painted white! You sit there and judge me, using the law of Moses. But you are telling them to hit me, and that is against the law.”
4. The men standing near Paul said to him, “You cannot talk like that to God’s high priest! You are insulting him!”
5. Paul said, “Brothers, I did not know this man was the high priest. It is written in the Scriptures, ‘You must not curse a leader of your people.’”
6. Some of the men in the meeting were Sadducees, and others were Pharisees. So Paul shouted to them, “My brothers, I am a Pharisee and my father was a Pharisee! I am on trial here because I hope that people will rise from death!”