Acts 22

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¹Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. ✦ ²(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) ✦ ³I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. ✦ ⁴And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. ✦ ⁵As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished. ✦ ⁶And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. ✦ ⁷And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? ✦ ⁸And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. ✦ ⁹And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. ✦ ¹⁰And I said, What shall I do, LORD? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. ✦ ¹¹And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. ✦ ¹²And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, ✦ ¹³Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. ✦ ¹⁴And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. ✦ ¹⁵For thou shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. ✦ ¹⁶And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. ✦ ¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; ✦ ¹⁸And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. ✦ ¹⁹And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: ✦ ²⁰And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. ✦ ²¹And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles. ✦ ²²And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. ✦ ²³And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, ✦ ²⁴The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. ✦ ²⁵And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? ✦ ²⁶When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. ✦ ²⁷Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. ²⁸And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free born. ²⁹Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. ✦ ³⁰On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Acts 9 ·21 Acts 26 ·20 Acts 22 ·11 Acts 23 ·11 Acts 21 ·9 Acts 7 ·7 Acts 13 ·6 Gal 1 ·6

Christ at the center

Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.

How Acts 22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryDrive Thru History: Acts to RevelationDave Stotts · Free · evangelical
Follows Paul's missionary journeys and the early church on location across the Mediterranean — free on Tubi, great for families.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Acts videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Acts 22YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Acts 22David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on ActsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Acts 22Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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