But since from the glory of that light I could not see, I came to Damascus with my companions leading me by the hand. Then a certain Ananias, a man devout in the law and well spoken of by all the Jews who live in Damascus, came and stood over me and said: Brother Saul, regain your sight; and in that moment I saw him. And he said: The God of our fathers has chosen you to le^ his will, and to see the Just One and to hear the voice from his mouth; because you will be his witness, to all men, of what you have seen and heard. And now, why delay? Rise up and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling upon his name.
Then it befell me that when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple I fell into a trance, and I saw him and he was saying to me: Make haste and go from Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony concerning me. And I said: Lord, they themselves know that I kept imprisoning and flogging those in one synagogue after another who believed in you; and when the blood of Stephen your martyr was shed, I myself was standing by and approving and keeping the coats of the men who were killing him. But he said to me: Go, because I shall send you far from here, among the Gentiles.
They had been listening to him up until this word, but then they cried aloud, saying: Rid the earth of him; such a man has no right to live. And as they clamored and threw off their coats and raised a cloud of dust in the air the tribune ordered him to be taken into the barracks, telling them to whip him so as to get it out of him and find out why they cried out so against him. But when they stretched him out for the lashes, Paul said to the centurion who stood by: Are you permitted to whip a Roman citizen, and that without a trial? When the centurion heard this, he went and told it to the tribune, saying: What do you mean to do? This man is a Roman citizen. The tribune went to him and said: Tell me, are you a Roman citizen? He said: Yes. The tribune said: I paid a great deal to get this citizenship. Paul said: I was born to it. Then those who had been going to interrogate him immediately withdrew from him; and the tribune was frightened, realizing that he was a Roman, and that he had put him in chains.
The next day, wishing to find out precisely what he was accused of by the Jews, he released him, and ordered the high priests and the entire council to assemble, and then brought Paul in and set him before them.
Paul looked hard at the council and said: Men and brothers, I have been God's citizen in full good conscience down to this very day. Then the high priest Ananias ordered the men who stood beside him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him: God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. And do you sit there and judge me according to the law while you unlawfully order me to be struck? The men who stood beside him said: Do you revile the high priest of God? Paul said: I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest; for it is written: You shall not insult the leader of the people.
Then Paul, knowing that one part of them was Sad- ducees and the other Pharisees, cried aloud in the counciclass="underline" Men and brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees; I am being tried for my hope for the resurrection of the dead. When he said this, there was strife between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was split in two. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees believe in both of these. And there was a great uproar, and some of the scribes of the Pharisaean sect rose up and dissented, saying: We find no evil in this man. It may be that a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel. And as the quarrel grew violent, the tribune, fearing that Paul might be torn to pieces by them, ordered his soldiers to go down and snatch him out of their midst and take him into the barracks.
On the following night the Lord stood over him and said: Take heart; for as you testified concerning me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.
When day came, the Jews formed a gang and bound themselves by oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. There were more than forty men in this conspiracy; and these went to the high priests and elders and said: We have bound ourselves by oath to taste nothing until we kill Paul. Do you now explain to the tribune, along with the council, that he should bring the ^^ before you, since you wish to learn more accurately about him; and we are ready to kill him before he gets to you.
But the son of Paul's sister heard of the ambush, and he went to the barracks and got in and reported it to Paul. Paul called over one of the centurions and said: Take this young man to the tribune, since he has something to report to him. So the centurion took him to the tribune and said: The prisoner Paul called me over and asked me to bring this young man to you; he has something to tell you. The tribune took him by the hand and led him to a place apart and asked him: What is this you have to tell me? He said: The Jews have decided to ask you to bring Paul before the council tomorrow, as if for the purpose of learning more accurately about him. But do not do as they say; for more than forty of them are lying in wait for him, and they have bound themselves by oath neither to eat nor drink until they kill him; and now they are ready and waiting for the word from you.
The tribune let the young man go, saying to him: Do not tell anyone that you gave me this information. Then he called in two of his centurions and said: Have two hundred infantrymen, and seventy horsemen, and two hundred light troops ready to start for Caesarea at the third hour of the night; and have horses for Paul to ride, and get him safely to Felix, the governor. And he wrote a letter which read as follows: Claudius Lysias to Felix the most mighty governor, greetings. When this man had been seized by the Jews and was on the point of being killed by them, I went with an armed force and rescued him, having learned that he is a Roman citizen, and I brought him before their council, wishing to le^n what was their case against him. And I found that he was accused because of questions concerning their law, but not on any charge that would deserve death or imprisonment. And being informed of a plot against the man I immediately sent him to you, having also ordered his accusers to charge him in your presence.
So the soldiers, as ordered, took Paul by night and brought him to Antipatris; and the next day, leaving the horsemen to go on with him, they returned to the barracks. And the cavalry went on to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor and also brought Paul to him. When he had read it, and asked from what province he came and learned that he was from Cilicia, he said: I will hear you when your accusers are also here. And he ordered him held in the residence of Herod.
After five days the high priest ^^mias came down from Jerusalem with some of the elders and a certain orator, Tertullus, and they brought a charge against Paul before the governor. And when Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: We have had much peace because of you, and reforms of every kind have come from everywhere in this country through your forethought, which, most mighty Felix, we acknowledge in all gratitude. But, not to weary you, I beg you in your graciousness to give us a brief hearing. For we have found this man to be a plague, one who stirs up dissensions among all the Jews in the empire, and the ringleader of the heretical sect of Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple. We seized him, and wanted to try him by our own law, but the tribune Lysias came and forcibly took him out of our hands and said that his accusers must go to you. You yourself will be able to le^ by questioning him about all that we accuse him of. And the Jews joined in the attack, saying that this was true.