Study Desk

as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brothers, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

"And I said, 'What shall I do, Lord?' And the Lord said to me, 'Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.'

'For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard.

"And He said to me, 'Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a man from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!"

But when they stretched him out with straps, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?"

When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman."

The commander answered, "I acquired this citizenship for a large sum of money." And Paul said, "But I was actually born a citizen."

Now on the next day, wanting to know for certain why Paul had been accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and all the Council to assemble, and he brought Paul down and placed him before them.

And Paul said, "I was not aware, brothers, that he is high priest; for it is written: 'YOU SHALL NOT SPEAK EVIL OF A RULER OF YOUR PEOPLE.'"

But Paul, perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, began crying out in the Council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!"

For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

But on the following night, the Lord stood near him and said, "Be courageous! For as you have testified to the truth about Me in Jerusalem, so you must testify in Rome also."

"Now therefore, you and the Council notify the commander to bring him down to you, as though you were going to investigate his case more thoroughly; and as for us, we are ready to kill him before he comes near the place."

Paul called one of the centurions to himself and said, "Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him."

"So do not listen to them, for more than forty of them are in hiding to ambush him, and these men have put themselves under an oath not to eat or drink until they kill him; and now they are ready and waiting for assurance from you."

And wanting to ascertain the basis for the charges they were bringing against him, I brought him down to their Council;

he said, "I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive as well," giving orders for Paul to be kept in Herod's Praetorium.

After Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began accusing him, saying to the governor, "Since we have attained great peace through you, and since reforms are being carried out for this nation by your foresight,

"For we have found this man a public menace and one who stirs up dissensions among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.