And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
Parallel translations
- WEB “I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- BSB ‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.
- NKJV So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- NASB And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
- NLT “‘Who are you, lord?’ I asked. “And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting.
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
Jesus reveals His identity to Saul: 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' joining Himself so closely to His people that to attack them is to attack Him.
Overview
Saul's question 'Who are you, Lord?' is answered with a stunning self-disclosure of the risen Christ. The statement teaches the doctrine of union with Christ: the church is His body, so harm done to believers is reckoned as done to Jesus Himself. For Paul this confirmed both Jesus' resurrection and his own grievous error, becoming the foundation of his gospel and apostleship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- John 15:20–21Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
- Matt 25:45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
- Exod 16:8And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.
- Matt 25:40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 26:15 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.