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1 Men, brothers and fathers! Hear my defense now to you.

2 And hearing that he spoke to them in the Hebrew dialect, they all the more kept silence. And he said,

3 I am truly a man, a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the exactness of the Law of the fathers, being a zealous one of God, as you all are today.

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4 I persecuted this Way as far as death, binding and delivering both men and women into prisons;

5 as also the high priest bears witness to me, and all the elderhood. And receiving letters from them to the brothers, I traveled into Damascus indeed to lead those being bound to Jerusalem, in order that they might be punished.

6 And it happened to me, traveling and drawing near to Damascus: suddenly, about midday, a great light out of the heaven shone around me.

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7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?

8 And I answered, Who are you, lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.

9 And they who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid. But they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to me.

10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise and go into Damascus. And there it shall be told you all things which are appointed for you to do.

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11 And I did not see, because of the glory of that light; being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the Law, testified to by all the Jews who lived there,

13 coming to me and standing by, said to me, Brother Saul, look up! And the same hour I looked up on him.

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14 And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Just One, and to hear a voice out of His mouth.

15 For you shall be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard.

16 And now what do you intend? Arise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.

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17 And it happened to me, I returning to Jerusalem and praying in the temple, I became in an ecstasy.

18 And I saw Him say to me, Hurry and go quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.

19 And I said, Lord, they know that I was imprisoning and beating those who believed on You throughout the synagogues.

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20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was poured out, I also was standing by and consenting to his death, and holding the garments of those who killed him.

21 And He said to me, Go, for I will send you far away to the nations.

22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they lifted up their voice, saying, Take such a one from the earth! For it is not fitting that he should live.

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23 And as they shouted and tore their garments, and threw dust into the air,

24 the chiliarch commanded him to be brought into the fortress, saying for him to be examined by scourging, so that he might know why they cried out so against him.

25 And as they stretched him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?

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26 And hearing, coming near the centurion reported to the chiliarch, saying, Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman.

27 And coming up the chiliarch said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman? And He said, Yes.

28 And the chiliarch answered, With a great sum I bought this citizenship. And Paul said, But I was even born free.

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29 Then immediately, those being about to examine him stood away from him. And the chiliarch also was afraid, fully knowing that he was a Roman, and that he had bound him.

30 On the next day, he desiring to know with certainty why he was accused by the Jews, he freed him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their sanhedrin to appear. And bringing Paul down, he set him among them.

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