1. “My brothers and fathers, listen to what I am about to say to you in my defense.”
2. When they heard him addressing them in Hebrew they became all the more quiet. And he continued,
3. “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you are today.
4. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison.
5. Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment those there as well.
6. “On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me.
7. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’