9
“I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10
And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord’s people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
11
Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
12
“On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
13
About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
14
We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a]‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15
“Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.
16
‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.