⁹ “I myself once thought that I had to do everything possible against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With the authorization of the chief priests, I not only sent many of the saints^[a] to prison, but when they were being condemned to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ In all the synagogues, I tried by inflicting repeated punishments to force them to blaspheme, and I was so enraged with fury against them that I even pursued them to foreign cities.

¹² “On one such occasion, I was traveling to Damascus with the authorization and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ At midday, as I was on my way, O king, I saw a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and my companions. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.’^[b]

¹⁵ “I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ Get up now and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as my servant and as a witness to what you have seen of me and what you will yet see. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. ¹⁸ You are to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light^[c] and from the power of Satan to God. Thus, they may obtain forgiveness of their sins and an inheritance among those who have been consecrated through faith in me.’