The Early Church · c. AD 34–37
Chapter 7
The Road to Damascus
As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him.He fell on the earth, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
For parents
This chapter recalls Stephen’s stoning and Saul dragging men and women off to prison (Acts 7:58–8:3), and tells of his threats of slaughter against the disciples (9:1–2). In Damascus the Jews plot to kill Saul and watch the gates for him, and in Jerusalem the Hellenists try to kill him; both times he gets away (9:23–30). In Joppa a disciple named Tabitha becomes sick and dies, and Peter raises her (9:36–41).
When was thrown out of the city and stoned, the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named . Saul was in favor of Stephen’s death.
Saul attacked the . He went into one house after another and dragged both men and women off to prison.
Saul was still threatening the Lord’s with death. Then he went to the with a request: letters to the of . With those letters, if he found anyone there who belonged to , men or women, he could put them in chains and bring them to .
Saul was on the road and coming near Damascus when, all at once, a light from the sky shone all around him. He fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” he asked.
“I am , whom you are persecuting,” said the Lord. “But get up, go into the city, and then you will be told what you must do.”
The men on the road with him stood there, unable to say a word. They heard the sound, but they saw no one.
Saul got up off the ground. When he opened his eyes, he couldn’t see anyone. The men led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
For three days he could not see, and he didn’t eat or drink.
A disciple named lived in Damascus. In a vision the Lord called to him, “Ananias!”
“Here I am, Lord,” he said.
“Get up,” the Lord told him, “and go to the street called Straight. At the house of a man named Judah, ask for Saul, a man from . Even now he is praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him, so that he can see again.”
But Ananias answered, “Lord, I’ve heard from many people about this man and about how much harm he did to your at Jerusalem. Here he has the ’ authority to arrest everyone who calls on your name.”
But the Lord said to him, “Go, because he is the one I have chosen to carry my name before the nations and kings, and the people of Israel. I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name.”
Ananias set off and went into the house. He put his hands on Saul. “Brother Saul,” he said, “the Lord, who appeared to you as you traveled here, has sent me to you so that you can get your sight back and be filled with the .”
Right away, something like scales fell away from Saul’s eyes, and he could see. He got up and was . Then he ate, and his strength returned.
Saul stayed some days with the disciples in Damascus. Right away, in the synagogues, he proclaimed the , saying that he is the Son of God.
Everyone who heard him was amazed. “Isn’t this the man who attacked those in Jerusalem who called on this name?” they said. “And he came here meaning to bring them to the chief priests in chains!”
But Saul grew stronger and stronger, and he threw the Jews who lived in Damascus into confusion, proving that this is the Christ.
After many days the Jews plotted together to kill him. But word of their plot reached Saul. Day and night they kept watch on the gates, looking for a chance to kill him.
But one night his disciples took him and let him down through the wall in a basket.
When Saul reached Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples there, but every one of them was afraid of him. They didn’t believe he was a disciple.
But took him and brought him to the , and he told them how on the way Saul had seen the Lord, and the Lord had spoken to him. Barnabas also told them that at Damascus Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.
Saul was with them, coming into Jerusalem and preaching boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus. He spoke and argued against the , Jews who used the Greek language and culture, but they were trying to kill him.
When the brothers and sisters found out, they brought him down to and sent him off to Tarsus.
So the assemblies all through , and had peace and were built up. They lived their lives in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and they grew in number.
As went about through all those parts, he came down to too, to the saints who lived there.
There he found a man called , who had been lying in bed for eight years because he was paralyzed.
Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” Right away Aeneas got up.
Everyone who lived in Lydda and in saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
There was a disciple in named . In Greek her name was Dorcas, which means “gazelle.” She was a woman full of good deeds and acts of mercy.
In those days she became sick and died. They washed her body and laid her in a room upstairs.
Peter was in Lydda, which was near Joppa. When the disciples heard he was there, they sent two men to him, begging him to come to them without delay.
Peter got up and went with them. When he got there, they brought him into the room upstairs. All the widows stood by him in tears, showing him the tunics and other clothes Dorcas had made while she was with them.
Peter put everyone outside, knelt down, and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
He gave her his hand and raised her to her feet. Then he called in the saints and the widows and showed them she was alive.
Word of it spread through all of Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
Peter stayed many days in Joppa with a tanner named , a man who made leather from animal skins.