1. “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense that I now make to you.”
2. (When they heard that he was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even quieter.) Then Paul said,
3. “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated with strictness under Gamaliel according to the law of our ancestors, and was zealous for God just as all of you are today.
4. I persecuted this Way even to the point of death, tying up both men and women and putting them in prison,
5. as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. From them I also received letters to the brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to make arrests there and bring the prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
6. As I was en route and near Damascus, about noon a very bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around me.
7. Then I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8. I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’
9. Those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.
10. So I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus; there you will be told about everything that you have been designated to do.’
11. Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those who were with me.
12. A man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well spoken of by all the Jews who live there,