Paul Recounts His Conversion

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

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

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

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

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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.’

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

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

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

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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.

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

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