4. “All the Jews know about my whole life. They know the way I lived from the beginning in my own country and later in Jerusalem.
5. These Jews have known me for a long time. If they want to, they can tell you that I was a good Pharisee. And the Pharisees obey the laws of the Jewish religion more carefully than any other group.
6. Now I am on trial because I hope for the promise that God made to our fathers.
7. This is the promise that all the twelve tribes of our people hope to receive. For this hope the Jews serve God day and night. My king, the Jews have accused me because I hope for this same promise.
8. Why do you people think it is impossible for God to raise people from death?
9. “I used to think that I should do everything I could against Jesus from Nazareth.
10. And that’s what I did, beginning in Jerusalem. The leading priests gave me the authority to put many of God’s people in jail. And when they were being killed, I agreed that it was a good thing.
11. I visited all the synagogues and punished them, trying to make them curse Jesus. My anger against these people was so strong that I went to other cities to find them and punish them.
12. “One time the leading priests gave me permission and the authority to go to the city of Damascus.
13. On the way there, at noon, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun. It shined all around me and those traveling with me.
14. We all fell to the ground. Then I heard a voice talking to me in Aramaic. The voice said, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are only hurting yourself by fighting me.’
15. “I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “The Lord said, ‘I am Jesus. I am the one you are persecuting.
16. Stand up! I have chosen you to be my servant. You will tell people about me—what you have seen today and what I will show you. This is why I have come to you.
17. I will keep you safe from your own people and from the non-Jewish people, the ones I am sending you to.