Acts 22:5

5 The high priest and the whole Jerusalem Council can testify about me. I received letters from them, addressed to our associates in Damascus, then went there to bring those who were arrested to Jerusalem so they could be punished.

Acts 22:5 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 22:5

As also the high priest doth bear me witness
Either Annas, or Caiaphas, who was at that time high priest; and it should seem by this, that he was still in being; or else that the apostle had preserved his letter, written with his own hand, which he was able to produce at any time, as a testimony of the truth of what he had said, or was about to say; since he speaks of him (as now) bearing him witness, or as one that could:

and all the estate of the elders;
the whole Jewish sanhedrim, for this character respects not men in years, but men in office, and such who were members of the high court of judicature in Jerusalem;

from whom also I received letters unto the brethren;
some render it "against the brethren", as if the Christians were meant; whereas the apostle intends the Jews of the synagogue at Damascus, whom the apostle calls brethren; because they were of the same nation, and his kinsmen according to the flesh; and, at that time, of the same religion and principles with him; and this is put out of doubt, by the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, which render it, "the brethren that were at Damascus": and these letters were to recommend him to them, and to empower him to persecute the Christians, and to demand and require their assistance in it; the Ethiopic version calls them, "letters of power"; and it seems from hence, that these letters were received from the whole sanhedrim, as well as from the high priest, and were signed by both:

and went to Damascus to bring them which were there bound unto
Jerusalem, for to be punished:
with stripes, or with death, as they should be judged worthy; see ( Acts 9:2 ) .

Acts 22:5 In-Context

3 Paul continued, “I'm a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but raised in this city. Under Gamaliel's instruction, I was trained in the strict interpretation of our ancestral Law. I am passionately loyal to God, just like you who are gathered here today.

4 I harassed those who followed this Way to their death, arresting and delivering both men and women into prison.

5 The high priest and the whole Jerusalem Council can testify about me. I received letters from them, addressed to our associates in Damascus, then went there to bring those who were arrested to Jerusalem so they could be punished.

6 “During that journey, about noon, as I approached Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven encircled me.

7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice asking me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you harassing me?'