- Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them.
- "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
- 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.
- We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
- "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' " 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied.
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- "And as I punished them often in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities.
- "While so engaged as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
- at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with me.
- "And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
- "And I said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And the Lord said, 'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.
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