Acts 9:1-32

¹Meanwhile Saul, still breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,

²and asked him to give him letters to the Jewish congregations at Damascus, authorizing him, if he found there any supporters of the Way, whether men or women, to have them put in chains and brought to Jerusalem.

³While on his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, suddenly a light from the heavens flashed around him.

⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him — “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

⁵“Who are you, Lord?” he asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” the voice answered;

⁶“Yet stand up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷The men travelling with Saul were meanwhile standing speechless; they heard the sound of the voice, but saw no one.

⁸When Saul got up from the ground, though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So his men led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus;

⁹and for three days he was unable to see, and took nothing either to eat or to drink.

¹⁰Now there was at Damascus a disciple named Ananias, to whom, in a vision, the Lord said, “Ananias.” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹“Go at once,” said the Lord, “to the Straight Street, and ask at Judas's house for a man named Saul, from Tarsus. He is at this moment praying,

¹²and he has seen, in a vision, a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him, so that he may recover his sight.”

¹³“Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I have heard from many people about this man — how much harm he has done at Jerusalem to your people there.

¹⁴And, here, too, he holds authority from the chief priests to put in chains all those who invoke your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to uphold my name before the Gentiles and their kings, and the people of Israel.

¹⁶I will myself show him all that he has to suffer for my name.”

¹⁷So Ananias went, entered the house, and, placing his hands on Saul, said, “Saul, my brother, I have been sent by the Lord — by Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here — so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

¹⁸Instantly it seemed as if a film fell from Saul's eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptised,

¹⁹and, after he had taken food, he felt his strength return. Saul stayed for some days with the disciples who were at Damascus,

²⁰and at once began in the synagogues to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God.

²¹All who heard him were amazed. “Is not this,” they asked, “the man who worked havoc in Jerusalem amongst those that invoke this name, and who had also come here for the express purpose of having such persons put in chains and taken before the chief priests?”

²²Saul's influence, however, kept steadily increasing, and he confounded the Jewish people who lived in Damascus by the proofs that he gave that Jesus was the Christ.

²³After some time some of them laid a plot to kill Saul,

²⁴but it became known to him. They even watched the gates day and night, to kill him;

²⁵but his disciples let him down by night through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

²⁶On his arrival in Jerusalem, Saul attempted to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, as they did not believe that he was really a disciple.

²⁷Barnabas, however, taking him by the hand, brought him to the apostles, and told them the whole story of how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord, and how the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken out fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸After that, Saul remained in Jerusalem, in close contact with the apostles; and he spoke fearlessly in the name of the Lord,

²⁹talking and arguing with the Jews of foreign birth, who, however, made attempts to kill him.

³⁰But, when the followers found this out, they took him down to Caesarea, and sent him on his way to Tarsus.

³¹And so it came about that the church, throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, enjoyed peace and became firmly established; and, ordering its life by respect for the Lord and the help of the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.

³²Peter, while travelling from place to place throughout the country, went down to visit the people of Christ living at Lydda.