1 "1Brethren* and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you."
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And when they heard that he was addressing them in the 2Hebrewdialect, they became even morequiet; and he said,
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"3I am4a Jew, born in 5Tarsus of 6Cilicia, but brought up in thiscity, educatedunder**7Gamaliel, 8strictlyaccording to the law of our fathers, beingzealous for Godjust as 9you all are today.
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"10I persecutedthis11Way to the death, binding and puttingbothmen and women into prisons,
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as also12the highpriest and all13the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also14receivedletters to 15the brethren, and started off for 16Damascus in order to bringeventhose who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
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"17But it happened that as I was on my way, approachingDamascusaboutnoontime, a verybrightlightsuddenlyflashed from heavenallaround me,
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and I fell to the ground and heard a voicesaying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?'
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"And I answered, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said to me, 'I am18Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.'
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"And thosewho were with me 19saw the light, to be sure, but 20did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me.
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"And I said, '21What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lordsaid to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.'
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"But since I 22could not seebecause of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.
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"A certain23Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and 24wellspoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
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came to me, and standingnearsaid to me, '25BrotherSaul, receive your sight!' And 26at that verytime I looked up at him.
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"And he said, '27The God of our fathers has 28appointed you to know His will and to 29see the 30RighteousOne and to hear an utterance from His mouth.
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'For you will be 31a witness for Him to allmen of 32what you have seen and heard.
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'Nowwhy do you delay? 33Get up and be baptized, and 34washaway your sins, 35calling on His name.'
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"It happened when I 36returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I 37fell into a trance,
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and I saw Him saying to me, '38Makehaste, and get out of Jerusalemquickly, because they will not accept your testimonyabout Me.'
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"And I said, 'Lord, they themselvesunderstand that in one synagogueafteranother39I used to imprison and 40beatthose who believed in You.
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'And 41when the blood of Your witnessStephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving, and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.'
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"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you faraway42to the Gentiles.'"