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Acts 9 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Saul’s Conversion
(Act 22:6–16; 26:12–18 )
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:1 - Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers.[fn] So he went to the high priest.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:2 - He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them—both men and women—back to Jerusalem in chains.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:3 - As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:4 - He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:5 - “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked.
And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:6 - Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:7 - The men with Saul stood speechless, for they heard the sound of someone’s voice but saw no one!
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:8 - Saul picked himself up off the ground, but when he opened his eyes he was blind. So his companions led him by the hand to Damascus.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:9 - He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:10 - Now there was a believer[fn] in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, calling, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord!” he replied.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:11 - The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:12 - I have shown him a vision of a man named Ananias coming in and laying hands on him so he can see again.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:13 - “But Lord,” exclaimed Ananias, “I’ve heard many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers[fn] in Jerusalem!
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:14 - And he is authorized by the leading priests to arrest everyone who calls upon your name.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:15 - But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:16 - And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
Saul in Damascus and Jerusalem
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:17 - So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road, has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:18 - Instantly something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:19 - Afterward he ate some food and regained his strength. Saul stayed with the believers[fn] in Damascus for a few days.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:20 - And immediately he began preaching about Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is indeed the Son of God!”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:21 - All who heard him were amazed. “Isn’t this the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem?” they asked. “And didn’t he come here to arrest them and take them in chains to the leading priests?”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:22 - Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:23 - After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:24 - They were watching for him day and night at the city gate so they could murder him, but Saul was told about their plot.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:25 - So during the night, some of the other believers[fn] lowered him in a large basket through an opening in the city wall.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:26 - When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer!
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:27 - Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:28 - So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:29 - He debated with some Greek-speaking Jews, but they tried to murder him.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:30 - When the believers[fn] heard about this, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus, his hometown.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:31 - The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.
Peter Heals Aeneas and Raises Dorcas
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:32 - Meanwhile, Peter traveled from place to place, and he came down to visit the believers in the town of Lydda.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:33 - There he met a man named Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:34 - Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you! Get up, and roll up your sleeping mat!” And he was healed instantly.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:35 - Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon saw Aeneas walking around, and they turned to the Lord.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:36 - There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas[fn]). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:37 - About this time she became ill and died. Her body was washed for burial and laid in an upstairs room.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:38 - But the believers had heard that Peter was nearby at Lydda, so they sent two men to beg him, “Please come as soon as possible!”
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:39 - So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other clothes Dorcas had made for them.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:40 - But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Tabitha.” And she opened her eyes! When she saw Peter, she sat up!
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:41 - He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then he called in the widows and all the believers, and he presented her to them alive.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:42 - The news spread through the whole town, and many believed in the Lord.
Unchecked Copy BoxAct 9:43 - And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, a tanner of hides.
NLT Footnotes
Greek disciples.
Greek disciple; also in 9:26, 36.
Greek God’s holy people; also in 9:32, 41.
Greek disciples; also in 9:26, 38.
Greek his disciples.
Greek brothers.
The names Tabitha in Aramaic and Dorcas in Greek both mean “gazelle.”
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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