¹እናንተ ወንድሞች አባቶችም፥ አሁን ለእናንተ ነገሬን ስገልጥ ስሙኝ።

¹Brethren and fathers, hear ye the defence which I now make unto you.

²በዕብራይስጥም ቋንቋ ሲናገር በሰሙ ጊዜ ከፊት ይልቅ ዝም አሉ። እርሱም አለ።

²And when they heard that he spake unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet: and he saith,

³እኔ የኪልቅያ በምትሆን በጠርሴስ የተወለድሁ፥ በዚችም ከተማ በገማልያል እግር አጠገብ ያደግሁ፥ የአባቶችንም ሕግ ጠንቅቄ የተማርሁ፥ ዛሬውንም እናንተ ሁሉ እንድትሆኑ ለእግዚአብሔር ቀናተኛ የሆንሁ አይሁዳዊ ሰው ነኝ

³I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day:

⁴ወንዶችንም ሴቶችንም እያሰርሁ ወደ ወኅኒም አሳልፌ እየሰጠሁ ይህን መንገድ እስከ ሞት ድረስ አሳደድሁ።

⁴and I persecuted this Way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.

⁵እንዲህም ሊቀ ካህናቱ ደግሞ ሽማግሌዎቹም ሁሉ ይመሰክሩልኛል፤ ከእነርሱ ደግሞ መልእክትን ለወንድሞቻቸው ተቀብዬ፥ በደማስቆ ያሉትን ደግሞ ታስረው እንዲቀጡ ወደ ኢየሩሳሌም ላመጣ ወደዚያ እሄድ ነበር።

⁵As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and journeyed to Damascus to bring them also that were there unto Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.

⁶ስሄድም ወደ ደማስቆ በቀረብሁ ጊዜ፥ ቀትር ሲሆን ድንገት ከሰማይ ታላቅ ብርሃን በዙሪያዬ አንጸባረቀ፤

⁶And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and drew nigh unto Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.

⁷በምድርም ላይ ወድቄ። ሳውል ሳውል፥ ስለ ምን ታሳድደኛለህ? የሚለኝን ድምፅ ሰማሁ።

⁷And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

⁸እኔም መልሼ። ጌታ ሆይ፥ አንተ ማን ነህ? አልሁ። እርሱም። አንተ የምታሳድደኝ የናዝሬቱ ኢየሱስ እኔ ነኝ አለኝ።

⁸And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

⁹ከእኔ ጋር የነበሩትም ብርሃኑን አይተው ፈሩ፥ የሚናገረኝን የእርሱን ድምፅ ግን አልሰሙም።

⁹And they that were with me beheld indeed the light, but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me.

¹⁰ጌታ ሆይ፥ ምን ላድርግ? አልሁት። ጌታም። ተነሥተህ ወደ ደማስቆ ሂድና ታደርገው ዘንድ ስለ ታዘዘው ሁሉን በዚያ ይነግሩሃል አለኝ።

¹⁰And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do.

¹¹ከዚያ ብርሃንም ክብር የተነሣ ማየት ባይሆንልኝ ከእኔ ጋር የነበሩት ሰዎች እጄን ይዘው እየመሩኝ ወደ ደማስቆ ደረስሁ።

¹¹And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me I came into Damascus.

¹²በዚያም የኖሩት አይሁድ ሁሉ የመሰከሩለት እንደ ሕጉም በጸሎት የተጋ ሐናንያ የሚሉት አንድ ሰው ነበረ።

¹²And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews that dwelt there,

¹³እርሱም ወደ እኔ መጥቶ በአጠገቤም ቆሞ። ወንድሜ ሳውል ሆይ፥ እይ አለኝ። እኔም ያን ጊዜውን ወደ እርሱ አየሁ።

¹³came unto me, and standing by me said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And in that very hour I looked up on him.

¹⁴እርሱም አለኝ። የአባቶቻችን አምላክ ፈቃዱን ታውቅ ዘንድና ጻድቁን ታይ ዘንድ ከአፉም ድምፅን ትሰማ ዘንድ አስቀድሞ መርጦሃል

¹⁴And he said, The God of our fathers hath appointed thee to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.

¹⁵ባየኸውና በሰማኸው በሰው ሁሉ ፊት ምስክር ትሆንለታለህና።

¹⁵For thou shalt be a witness for him unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard.

¹⁶አሁንስ ለምን ትዘገያለህ? ተነሣና ስሙን እየጠራህ ተጠመቅ ከኃጢአትህም ታጠብ።

¹⁶And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

¹⁷ወደ ኢየሩሳሌምም ከተመለሱ በኋላ በመቅደስ ስጸልይ ተመስጦ መጣብኝ፥

¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance,

¹⁸እርሱም። ፍጠን ከኢየሩሳሌምም ቶሎ ውጣ፥ ስለ እኔ የምትመሰክረውን አይቀበሉህምና ሲለኝ አየሁት።

¹⁸and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; because they will not receive of thee testimony concerning me.

¹⁹እኔም። ጌታ ሆይ፥ በአንተ የሚያምኑትን በምኵራብ ሁሉ እኔ በወኅኒ አገባና እደበድብ እንደ ነበርሁ እነርሱ ያውቃሉ፤

¹⁹And I said, Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee:

²⁰የሰማዕትህንም የእስጢፋኖስን ደም ባፈሰሱ ጊዜ፥ ራሴ ደግሞ በአጠገባቸው ስቆም ተስማምቼ የገዳዮችን ልብስ እጠብቅ ነበር አልሁ።

²⁰and when the blood of Stephen thy witness was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting, and keeping the garments of them that slew him.

²¹እርሱም። ሂድ፥ እኔ ወደ አሕዛብ ከዚህ ወደ ሩቅ እልክሃለሁና አለኝ።

²¹And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee forth far hence unto the Gentiles.

²²እስከዚህም ቃል ድረስ ይሰሙት ነበር፥ ድምፃቸውንም ከፍ አድርገው። እንደዚህ ያለውን ሰው ከምድር አስወግደው፥ በሕይወት ይኖር ዘንድ አይገባውምና አሉ።

²²And they gave him audience unto this word; and they lifted up their voice, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live.

²³ሲጮኹና ልብሳቸውን ሲወረውሩ ትቢያንም ወደ ላይ ሲበትኑ፥

²³And as they cried out, and threw off their garments, and cast dust into the air,

²⁴የሻለቃው ወደ ሰፈሩ እንዲያገቡት አዘዘ፥ እንደዚህም የጮኹበትን ምክንያት ያውቅ ዘንድ። እየገረፋችሁ መርምሩት አላቸው።

²⁴the chief captain commanded him be brought into the castle, bidding that he should be examined by scourging, that he might know for what cause they so shouted against him.

²⁵በጠፍርም በገተሩት ጊዜ ጳውሎስ በአጠገቡ የቆመውን የመቶ አለቃ። የሮሜን ሰው ያለ ፍርድ ትገርፉ ዘንድ ተፈቅዶላችኋልን? አለው።

²⁵And when they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?

²⁶የመቶ አለቃውም በሰማ ጊዜ ወደ ሻለቃው ቀርቦ። ይህ ሰው ሮማዊ ነውና ታደርገው ዘንድ ካለህ ተጠበቅ ብሎ ነገረው።

²⁶And when the centurion heard it, he went to the chief captain and told him, saying, What art thou about to do? for this man is a Roman.

²⁷የሻለቃውም ቀርቦ። አንተ ሮማዊ ነህን? ንገረኝ አለው፤ እርሱም። አዎን አለ።

²⁷And the chief captain came and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? And he said, Yea.

²⁸የሻለቃውም መልሶ። እኔ ይህን ዜግነት በብዙ ገንዘብ አገኘሁት አለ። ጳውሎስም። እኔ ግን በእርስዋ ተወለድሁ አለ።

²⁸And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this citizenship. And Paul said, But I am [a Roman] born.

²⁹ስለዚህም ሊመረምሩት ያሰቡት ከእርሱ ወዲያው ተለዩ፤ የሻለቃውም ደግሞ ሮማዊ መሆኑን ባወቀ ጊዜ ፈራ፥ አሳስሮት ነበርና።

²⁹They then that were about to examine him straightway departed from him: and the chief captain also was afraid when he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.

³⁰በማግሥቱም አይሁድ የከሰሱት በምን ምክንያት እንደ ሆነ እርግጡን ያውቅ ዘንድ አስቦ ፈታው፥ የካህናት አለቆችና ሸንጎውም ሁሉ ይሰበሰቡ ዘንድ አዘዘ፥ ጳውሎስንም አውርዶ በፊታቸው አቆመው።

³⁰But on the morrow, desiring to know the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.