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Paul’s Conversion

Meanwhile, Saul saw only violence and death for the Lord’s followers.

He went to the High Priest and asked for letters to the synagogues of Damascus that would authorize him to arrest and bring to Jerusalem anyone he found, man or woman, belonging to the Way.

As he traveled along and was approaching Damascus, a bright light suddenly flashed around him from the sky.

He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him: “Saul, Saul! Why do you persecute me?”

He asked:

“Who are you, Lord?”

The voice replied:

“I am Jesus, whom you persecute.

Now get up and go into the city; there, you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were traveling with him stood there in silence: they had heard the sound but could see no one.

Saul got up from the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he could not see. They took him by the hand and led him to Damascus.

He was blind, and he did not eat or drink for three days.

There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, to whom the Lord called in a vision:

“Ananias!”

He answered:

“Here I am, Lord!”

Then the Lord said to him:

“Go immediately to Straight Street and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul. You will find him praying,

for he has just seen in a vision that a man named Ananias has come in and laid his hands on him to restore his sight.”

Ananias replied:

“Lord, I have heard from many sources about this man and all the harm he has caused to your saints in Jerusalem;

and now he has authority from the High Priest to arrest everyone who calls on your name.”

But the Lord said to him:

“Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name to the non-Jewish nations, their kings, and the people of Israel as well.

I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

So Ananias left and went to the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said:

“Saul, my brother, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes, and he could see; he got up and was baptized.

Then he took some food and was strengthened. Saul stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days,

and he soon began to proclaim in the synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God.