1. Paul said, “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense to you.”
2. When they heard him speaking the Hebrew language, they became very quiet. Paul said,
3. “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in the country of Cilicia, but I grew up in this city. I was a student of Gamaliel, who carefully taught me everything about the law of our ancestors. I was very serious about serving God, just as are all of you here today.
4. I persecuted the people who followed the Way of Jesus, and some of them were even killed. I arrested men and women and put them in jail.
5. The high priest and the whole council of elders can tell you this is true. They gave me letters to the brothers in Damascus. So I was going there to arrest these people and bring them back to Jerusalem to be punished.
6. “About noon when I came near Damascus, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed all around me.
7. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’