1. “Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense which I now present to you.”
2. When they heard that Paul was addressing them in Aramaic, they became even more quiet. Then he said,
3. “I am a Jewish man, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, trained strictly according to the Torah of our fathers, being zealous for God just as all of you are today.
4. I persecuted this Way to the death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prisons—
5. as the kohen gadol and all the council of elders can testify about me. I also received letters from them to the brothers, and I went to Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem even those who were there in chains—to be punished.
6. “But it happened that as I was traveling and drawing near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly flashed all around me.
7. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’
8. “I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said to me, ‘I am Yeshua ha-Natzrati, whom you are persecuting.’
9. “Now those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.