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"On one of these journeys I was on my way to Damascus. I had the authority and commission of the chief priests.
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About noon, King Agrippa, I was on the road. I saw a light coming from heaven. It was brighter than the sun. It was shining around me and my companions.
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We all fell to the ground. I heard a voice speak to me in the Aramaic language. 'Saul! Saul!' it said. 'Why are you opposing me? It is hard for you to go against what you know is right.'
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"Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' " 'I am Jesus,' the Lord replied. 'I am the one you are opposing.
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Now get up. Stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you to serve me and be my witness. You will tell others that you have seen me today. You will also tell them that I will show myself to you again.
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" 'I will save you from your own people and from those who aren't Jews. I am sending you to them
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to open their eyes. I want you to turn them from darkness to light. I want you to turn them from Satan's power to God. I want their sins to be forgiven. They will be forgiven when they believe in me. They will have their place among God's people.'
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"So then, King Agrippa, I obeyed the vision that appeared from heaven.
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First I preached to people in Damascus. Then I preached in Jerusalem and in all Judea. I preached also to people who are not Jews. I told them to turn away from their sins to God. The way they live must prove that they have turned away from their sins.
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That's why the Jews grabbed me in the temple courtyard and tried to kill me.
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"But God has helped me to this very day. So I stand here and give witness to both small and great. I have been saying nothing different from what the prophets and Moses said would happen.