Paul agreed. So he took the vow and went to the temple with the men. The ritual took seven days. 

On the last day, some Jews from Ephesus saw Paul in the market place with a Gentile Christian from their city. Later they saw him in the temple and assumed the Gentile was with him. They yelled, “Help! Here’s the man who has turned the entire world against us. Now he’s bringing a Gentile into our temple!” 

Soon, the crowd became an angry mob. They grabbed Paul and took him out of the temple and started to beat him. Roman soldiers ran into the crowd to stop the beating. Their commander put Paul in chains and told his men to take him away. 

The crowd shouted, “Kill him!” and started moving toward the soldiers. Seeing this, the soldiers picked up Paul and carried him. When they got to the door of the barracks, Paul said to the commander, “May I speak to the crowd?” The commander was surprised, but finally agreed to let him speak. 

Paul stood on the step and raised his hand. Everyone grew quiet. He said, “I was given a strict Jewish education. I proved my dedication to our religion by persecuting believers in Jesus. I put both men and women in jail and even had some of them killed.

“One day I went to Damascus to bring more prisoners back to Jerusalem. Suddenly, a bright light surrounded me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice say, ‘Saul, Saul, Why are you persecuting me?’ 

“I said, ‘Who are you Lord?’ The voice said, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth—the one you are persecuting.’ He then told me to go into Damascus and I would be told what to do. 

“Once I was in the city, a believer in Christ came, and I called on the name of the Lord and was baptized. 

“I came back to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple. The Lord spoke to me again. He said, ‘I’m sending you to far off places and there you’ll preach to the Gentiles.’ ” 

As soon as Paul said the word “Gentiles,” the crowd once again went wild. They started yelling and throwing dust in the air. They threw their coats on the ground and shouted, “Kill him! Wipe him off the face of the earth!” 

Quickly, the commander took Paul into the barracks. He ordered soldiers to beat Paul until he had answered all of their questions. As the soldiers prepared to do this, Paul said to one of them, “Is it legal to beat a Roman citizen without a trial?” 

The soldier immediately told the commander about this. He went to Paul and asked. “Are you a Roman citizen?” 

“Yes, I was born a citizen.” 

Those who were getting ready to beat Paul immediately moved away from him. The commander himself became concerned for his own life because he had put a Roman citizen in chains—and almost beat him—without a fair trial. 

Continued in the next story