Bible Verses About Damascus: Paul's experiences in

as the high priest and the whole Council can testify about me. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and I was on my way to apprehend these people and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.

About noon as I was approaching Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.

I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?’

‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’ He replied.

My companions saw the light, but they could not understand the voice of the One speaking to me.

Then I asked, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ ‘Get up and go into Damascus,’ He told me. ‘There you will be told all that you have been appointed to do.’

Because the brilliance of the light had blinded me, my companions led me by the hand into Damascus.

There a man named Ananias, a devout observer of the law who was highly regarded by all the Jews living there,

came and stood beside me. ‘Brother Saul,’ he said, ‘receive your sight.’ And at that moment I could see him.

Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear His voice.

You will be His witness to everyone of what you have seen and heard.

And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’

In this pursuit I was on my way 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, shining around me and my companions.

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

‘Who are You, Lord?’ I asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied.

‘But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen from Me and what I will show you.

I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them

to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

First to those in Damascus and Jerusalem, then to everyone in the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I declared that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds worthy of their repentance.