21
"`Go,' He replied; `I will send you as an Apostle to nations far away.'"
22
Until they heard this last statement the people listened to Paul, but now with a roar of disapproval they cried out, "Away with such a fellow from the earth! He ought not to be allowed to live."
23
And when they continued their furious shouts, throwing their clothes into the air and flinging dust about,
24
the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and be examined by flogging, in order to ascertain the reason why they thus cried out against him.
25
But, when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul said to the Captain who stood by, "Does the Law permit you to flog a Roman citizen--and one too who is uncondemned?"
26
On hearing this question, the Captain went to report the matter to the Tribune. "What are you intending to do?" he said. "This man is a Roman citizen."
27
So the Tribune came to Paul and asked him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" "Yes," he said.
28
"I paid a large sum for my citizenship," said the Tribune. "But I was born free," said Paul.
29
So the men who had been on the point of putting him under torture immediately left him. And the Tribune, too, was frightened when he learnt that Paul was a Roman citizen, for he had had him bound.
30
The next day, wishing to know exactly what charge was being brought against him by the Jews, the Tribune ordered his chains to be removed; and, having sent word to the High Priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble, he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.