12 "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. |
13 About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. |
14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,1 26:14 Or Hebrew 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' |
15 "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' |
16 " 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will show you. |
17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them |
18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' |