Acts 26:10-18

¹⁰This is what I did in Jerusalem. I threw many of the believers in prison, having been given authority to do this by the chief priests. When they were sentenced to death I cast my vote against them.

¹¹I had them punished in all the synagogues, trying to make them recant. I was so furiously opposed to them that I went to cities outside our country to persecute them.

¹²That's why one day I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and orders from the chief priests.

¹³At about noon as I was on my way, Your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven that blazed brighter than the sun. It shone around me and those who were traveling with me.

¹⁴All of us fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice speaking to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It's hard for you to fight against me!’

¹⁵‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

¹⁶‘But pick yourself up and get to your feet. The reason why I've appeared to you is to appoint you as my servant, to be a witness for me, telling others how you have seen me and everything I will reveal to you.

¹⁷I will save you from your own people and from the foreigners. I am sending you to them

¹⁸to open their eyes so they can turn from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and so that they can receive forgiveness for their sins and a place with those who are set right as they trust in me.’