Acts 22:15-26

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

¹⁶And now, why hesitate? Get up, be baptized and wash away your sins, invoking the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I came to be in a trance

¹⁸and saw Him saying to me, ‘Hurry up and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive your testimony concerning me.’

¹⁹So I said: ‘Lord, they know that I used to imprison and beat those believing into you, from one synagogue to another;

²⁰and when the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing there and agreeing to his murder, even guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’

²¹And He said to me, ‘Get going, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²Well they kept listening to him until this statement, and then they raised their voice and shouted, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for it isn't fitting for him to live!”

²³As they were shouting, tearing off clothes and throwing dust into the air,

²⁴the commander ordered him to be taken into the barracks, directing that he be interrogated with lashes, in order to learn for what crime they kept shouting against him like that.

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

²⁶Well when the centurion heard that, he went and reported to the commander saying, “Consider what you are about to do, because this man is a Roman!”