15. because you will be a witness for him to all people of what you have seen and heard.
16. And now why are you delaying? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name!’
17. “And it happened that when I returned to Jerusalem and I was praying in the temple courts, I was in a trance,
18. and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and depart quickly from Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’
19. And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I was imprisoning and beating those who believed in you.
20. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself also was standing near and was approving, and was guarding the cloaks of those who were killing him.’
21. And he said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’ ”
22. Now they were listening to him until this word, and they raised their voices, saying, “Away with such a man from the earth! For it is not fitting for him to live!”
23. And while they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and throwing dust into the air,
24. the military tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying he was to be examined with a lash so that he could find out for what reason they were crying out against him in this way.
25. But when they had stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it permitted for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?”
26. And when the centurion heard this, he went to the military tribune and reported it, saying, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen!”
27. So the military tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”
28. And the military tribune replied, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I indeed was born a citizen.