First ReadingActs 22:3-16
From the Acts of the Apostles
or Acts 9:1-22
3“I am indeed a Jew,born in Tarsus of Cilicia,but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel,instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers,being zealous for God,even as you all are today.4I persecuted this Way to the death,binding and delivering into prisons both men and women,5as also the high priestand all the council of the elders testify,from whom also I received letters to the brothers,and traveled to Damascus to bring them alsowho were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
6“As I made my journey and came close to Damascus,about noon suddenly a great light shone around me from the sky.7I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me,‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’8I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth,whom you persecute.’
9“Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid,but they didn’t understand the voice of him who spoke to me.10I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus.There you will be told about all thingswhich are appointed for you to do.’11When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light,being led by the hand of those who were with me,I came into Damascus.
12“One Ananias, a devout man according to the law,well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus,13came to me, and standing by me said to me,‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’In that very hour I looked up at him.14He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will,and to see the Righteous One,and to hear a voice from his mouth.15For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.16Now why do you wait?Arise, be baptized,and wash away your sins,calling on the name of the Lord.’