Acts 9:1

Modern

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest

Traditional

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

Literal

Now Saul, still breathing out threats and murder toward the disciples of the Lord, having gone to the high priest,

Latin

Saulus autem adhuc spirans minarum et cædis in discipulos Domini, accessit ad principem sacerdotum,

Greek

English

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord. He approached the high priest

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road is central to the story in Acts. Luke tells the story three times (also 22:1–21; 26:1–29). Paul (Saul) mentions this experience several times in his letters (1 Corinthians 15:8–10; Galatians 1:11–17; Philippians 3:4–11; see 1 Timothy 1:12–17). Saul’s conversion was his call as a prophet and commission as an apostle (Acts 9:15; 22:15, 21; 26:15–18). No one is beyond God's power to reach, save, and use for holy purposes. Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). God prepared Paul through his training, childhood, and experience to play a unique role in proclaiming the gospel to the wider world as the “apostle to the Gentiles” (Romans 11:13; see 1 Corinthians 15:9; 2 Corinthians 12:11–12; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 3:8).

Theme notes and profiles

Acts 8:3
But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.
1 Timothy 1:13
I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
Galatians 1:13
For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
Acts 9:11–21
“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
1 Corinthians 15:9
For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
Acts 7:58
They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 26:9–11
So then, I too was convinced that I ought to do all I could to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Acts 22:3–5
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but raised in this city. I was educated at the feet of Gamaliel in strict conformity to the law of our fathers. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.
Philippians 3:6
…as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.
Psalm 27:12
Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.

Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles, author of many NT epistles