Acts 22:22-29

Paul and the Roman Tribune

22 Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, ¹"Away with such a fellow from the earth! For ²he should not be allowed to live."

23 And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air,

24 the tribune ordered him to be brought into ³the barracks, saying that he should be ⁴examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.

25 But when they had stretched him out for the whips,^[a] Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog ⁵a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?"

26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."

27 So the tribune came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?" And he said, "Yes."

28 The tribune answered, "I bought this citizenship for a large sum." Paul said, "But I am a citizen by birth."

29 So those who were about ⁶to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also ⁷was afraid, ⁸for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that ⁹he had bound him.