Acts 22:15-26

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

¹⁶Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“When I had returned to Jerusalem and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’

¹⁹I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you.

²⁰When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’

²¹“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’”

²²They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”

²³As they cried out, threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air,

²⁴the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that.

²⁵When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?”

²⁶When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”