King James Version · Under Rome
Acts 22
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Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a , born in , a city in , yet brought up in this city at the feet of , and taught according to the perfect manner of of the fathers, and was toward , as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the , binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the doth bear me , and all the estate of the : from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to , to bring them which were there bound unto , for to be punished. And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto about noon, suddenly there shone from a great round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, , , why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, ? And he said unto me, I am of , whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed , and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, ? And said unto me, Arise, and go into ; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the of that , being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into . And one , a devout man according to , having a good report of all the which dwelt there, Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother , receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that One, and shouldest hear the voice of his . For thou shalt be his unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be , and wash away thy , calling on the name of . And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to , even while I in , I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of : for they will not receive thy concerning me. And I said, , they know that I imprisoned and beat in every them that on thee: And when of thy martyr was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his , and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the . And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw into the air, The chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a , and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a . 27Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a ? He said, Yea. 28And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this . And said, But I was free born. Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a , and because he had bound him. On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the , he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the and all their council to appear, and brought down, and set him before them.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under Rome, 63 BC to AD 100 ›
Judea as a client kingdom and then a province. Roads, garrisons, taxes, crucifixion, and a common Greek language that let a message travel the empire faster than any before it.
- Rome
- The republic tears itself apart in civil war and comes out as an empire under Augustus. What follows is two centuries of relative peace across the whole Mediterranean, enforced by legions and paid for by taxes, with safe roads and safe sea lanes. Every one of Paul's journeys depends on that.
- Judea
- Governed first through Herod the Great, a client king of enormous ability and enormous brutality who rebuilds the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, then directly by Roman prefects. Crucifixion is the standard penalty for sedition and is used often and publicly.
- The wider world
- Greek is spoken from Spain to Syria, which means a letter written in Corinth can be read in Rome without translation. Jewish communities already exist in most major cities, which is where the first Christian preaching lands. Mystery religions, imperial cult, and philosophy all compete in the same marketplace.
- Further afield
- The Han dynasty rules China and trades silk westward along routes that touch the Roman world at second hand. In Britain the Roman conquest begins within a decade of the crucifixion.