¹“My friends and leaders of our nation, listen as I explain what happened!”

²When the crowd heard Paul speak to them in Aramaic, they became even quieter. Then Paul said:

²²The crowd listened until Paul said this. Then they started shouting, “Get rid of this man! He doesn't deserve to live.”

²³They kept shouting. They waved their clothes around and threw dust into the air.

Paul and the Roman Army Commander

²⁴The Roman commander ordered Paul to be taken into the fortress and beaten with a whip. He did this to find out why the people were screaming at Paul.

²⁵While the soldiers were tying Paul up to be beaten, he asked the officer standing there, “Is it legal to beat a Roman citizen before he has been tried in court?”

²⁶When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and said, “What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen!”

²⁷The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” Paul answered.

²⁸The commander then said, “I paid a lot of money to become a Roman citizen.”[#22.28 See the note at 16.37.]

But Paul replied, “I was born a Roman citizen.”

²⁹The men who were about to beat and question Paul quickly backed off. And the commander himself was frightened when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

Paul Is Tried by the Council

³⁰The next day the commander wanted to know the real reason why the Jewish leaders had brought charges against Paul. So he had Paul's chains removed, and he ordered the chief priests and the whole council to meet. Then he had Paul led in and made him stand in front of them.