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And now why do you wait? Rise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'
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"When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance
18
and saw him saying to me, 'Make haste and get quickly out of Jerusalem, 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 thee.
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And when the blood of Stephen thy witness was shed, I also was standing by and approving, and keeping the garments of those who killed him.'
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And he said to me, 'Depart; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"
22
Up to this word they listened to him; then they lifted up their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he ought not to live."
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And as they cried out and waved their garments and threw dust into the air,
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the tribune commanded him to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by scourging, to find out why they shouted thus against him.
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But when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen, and 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? For this man is a Roman citizen."