“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
Parallel translations
- WEB “Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,
- KJV Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,
- BSB In this pursuit I was on my way to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
- NASB “While so engaged, as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
- NLT “One day I was on such a mission to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul recounts that while traveling to Damascus with authority from the chief priests, he was on this mission of persecution. He sets the scene for his life-changing encounter with Christ.
Overview
Armed with official commission to arrest believers, Paul was at the height of his campaign against the church when God intervened. The detail emphasizes that his conversion was no human decision but a divine interruption. It prepares for the appearance of the risen Christ, who would transform the persecutor's journey into a turning point of redemptive history.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Acts 9:1–8But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest,
- Acts 26:10This I also did in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
- Acts 22:5–11As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
- 1 Kgs 21:8–10So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth.
- John 11:57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
- John 7:45–48The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”
- Ps 94:20–21Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
- Jer 26:8When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!
- Isa 10:1Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
- Jer 29:26–27“Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.
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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 26:12 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.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.