7. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
8. I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.’
9. My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me.
10. I asked, ‘What shall I do, sir?’ The Lord answered me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.’
11. Since I could see nothing because of the brightness of that light, I was led by hand by my companions and entered Damascus.
12. “A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived there,
13. came to me and stood there and said, ‘Saul, my brother, regain your sight.’ And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him.
14. Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice;
15. for you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard.
16. Now, why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling upon his name.’
17. “After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance
18. and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’
19. But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.
20. And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’
21. Then he said to me, ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
22. They listened to him until he said this, but then they raised their voices and shouted, “Take such a one as this away from the earth. It is not right that he should live.”