Skip to content

22

Paul addresses the crowd in Hebrew. When they hear him talk to them in Hebrew they grow even more silent. Paul tells them how he persecuted Christians but how Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. He told them how he was blinded and told to go to the house of Ananias where he would regain his sight which he did. He tells them how the spirit told him to flee Jerusalem and go to preach to the Gentiles. When the Jews hear him talk about going to the Gentiles they are enraged, they shout, throw dust in the air, tear their clothes etc. the tribune orders Paul to be flogged (possibly not having understood anything Paul has said if he doesn't understand Hebrew). Before the flogging starts Paul asks the centurion if it is legal for them to flog a Roman citizen. The centurion goes to the tribune and asks him if he knows he is about to flog a Roman citizen. The tribune is afraid at having even bound him and goes to Paul to ask him if he is indeed a Roman citizen. Paul says he is so the guards stand back and he is released from his bonds.