3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel. I received strict instruction in the Law of our ancestors and was just as dedicated to God as are all of you who are here today.
4 I persecuted to the death the people who followed this Way. I arrested men and women and threw them into prison.
5 The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished.
6 “As I was traveling and coming near Damascus, about midday a bright light from the sky flashed suddenly around me.
7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?’
8 ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute,’ he said to me.
9 The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.