Acts 22:15-26

¹⁵For you shall be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁶And now, what are you going to do? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“And it happened to me, having returned to Jerusalem and praying in the temple, that I came to be in a trance,

¹⁸and saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry and go out quickly from Jerusalem, for they will not receive your witness about Me.’

¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they know that in every synagogue I was imprisoning and beating those believing on You.

²⁰And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by consenting to his murder, and guarding the clothes of those murdering him.’

²¹Then He said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²Now they were listening to him until this statement, and they lifted their voice saying, “Take away such a man from the earth, for it is not fitting for him to live!”

²³And as they were crying out and throwing off their clothes, and throwing dust in the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said for him that he should be given a hearing with scourging, so that he might learn why they were shouting at him like this.

²⁵But as they were stretching him out with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?”

²⁶And the centurion, hearing this, going to the commander he reported, saying, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman.”