The Crowd's Fury; Paul Claims Roman Rights

22

They had been listening to him up to this point; but now they shouted at the top of their lungs, “Rid the earth of such a man! He’s not fit to live!”

23

They were screaming, waving their clothes and throwing dust into the air;

24

so the commander ordered him brought into the barracks and directed that he be interrogated and whipped, in order to find out why they were yelling at him like this.

25

But as they were stretching him out with thongs to be flogged, Sha’ul said to the captain standing by, “Is it legal for you to whip a man who is a Roman citizen and hasn’t even had a trial?”

26

When the captain heard that, he went and reported it to the commander, “Do you realize what you’re doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

27

The commander came and said to Sha’ul, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” “Yes,” he said.

28

The commander replied, “I bought this citizenship for a sizeable sum of money.” “But I was born to it,” Sha’ul said.

29

At once the men who had been about to interrogate him drew back from him; and the commander was afraid too, because he realized that he had put this man who was a Roman citizen in chains.

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