5. They knew me well from the beginning, (if they would be willing to offer testimony) for I lived according to the most determined sect of our religion: as a Pharisee.
6. And now, it is in the hope of the Promise which was made by God to our fathers that I stand subject to judgment.
7. It is the Promise that our twelve tribes, worshiping night and day, hope to see. About this hope, O king, I am accused by the Jews.
8. Why should it be judged so unbelievable with you all that God might raise the dead?
9. And certainly, I myself formerly considered that I ought to act in many ways which are contrary to the name of Jesus the Nazarene.
10. This is also how I acted at Jerusalem. And so, I enclosed many holy persons in prison, having received authority from the leaders of the priests. And when they were to be killed, I brought the sentence.
11. And in every synagogue, frequently while punishing them, I compelled them to blaspheme. And being all the more maddened against them, I persecuted them, even to foreign cities.
12. Thereafter, as I was going to Damascus, with authority and permission from the high priest,
13. at midday, O king, I and those who were also with me, saw along the way a light from heaven shining around me with a splendor greater than that of the sun.
14. And when we had all fallen down to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me in the Hebrew language: 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goad.'
15. Then I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
16. But rise up and stand on your feet. For I appeared to you for this reason: so that I may establish you as a minister and a witness concerning the things that you have seen, and concerning the things that I will show to you:
17. rescuing you from the people and the nations to which I am now sending you,