¹“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defense which I now make to you.”

¹እናንተ ወንድሞች አባቶችም፥ አሁን ለእናንተ ነገሬን ስገልጥ ስሙኝ።

²When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. He said,

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

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 this day.

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

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

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

⁵As also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.

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

⁶It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great light around me.

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

⁷I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’

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

⁸I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.’

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

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.

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

¹⁰I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’

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

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.

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

¹²One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus,

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

¹³came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him.

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

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.

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

¹⁵For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard.

¹⁵ባየኸውና በሰማኸው በሰው ሁሉ ፊት ምስክር ትሆንለታለህና።

¹⁶Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

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

¹⁷“It happened that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance,

¹⁷ወደ ኢየሩሳሌምም ከተመለሱ በኋላ በመቅደስ ስጸልይ ተመስጦ መጣብኝ፥

¹⁸and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’

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

¹⁹I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you.

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

²⁰When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’

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

²¹“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”

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

²²They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice, and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”

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

²³As they cried out, and threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air,

²³ሲጮኹና ልብሳቸውን ሲወረውሩ ትቢያንም ወደ ላይ ሲበትኑ፥

²⁴the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that.

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

²⁵When they had tied him up with thongs, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?”

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

²⁶When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”

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

²⁷The commanding officer came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?” He said, “Yes.”

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

²⁸The commanding officer answered, “I bought my citizenship for a great price.” Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.”

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

²⁹Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realized that he was a Roman, because he had bound him.

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

³⁰But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Jews, he freed him from the bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.

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