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And now why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and have your sins washed away, calling on his name.'
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"After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance
18
and saw Jesus saying to me, "Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'
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And I said, "Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you.
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And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him.'
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Then he said to me, "Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' "
22
Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live."
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And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air,
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the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him.
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But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?"
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When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen."