Acts 26:11-21

11 And ¹I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them ²blaspheme, and ³in raging fury against them I ⁴persecuted them even to foreign cities.

Paul Tells of His Conversion

12 "In this connection ⁵I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.

13 At midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, that shone around me and those who journeyed with me.

14 And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me ⁶in the Hebrew language,^[a] 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'

15 And I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

16 But rise and ⁷stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, ⁸to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,

17 ⁹delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles--¹⁰to whom I ¹¹am sending you

18 ¹²to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from ¹³the power of Satan to God, that they may receive ¹⁴forgiveness of sins and ¹⁵a place among those who are sanctified ¹⁶by faith in me.'

19 "Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to ¹⁷the heavenly vision,

20 but declared first ¹⁸to those in Damascus, ¹⁹then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also ²⁰to the Gentiles, that they should ²¹repent and ²²turn to God, performing deeds ²³in keeping with their repentance.

21 For this reason ²⁴the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.