Acts 22:23-30
22:23 While they were screaming
and throwing off their cloaks
and tossing dust
in the air,
22:24 the commanding officer
ordered Paul
to be brought back into the barracks.
He told them
to interrogate Paul
by beating him with a lash
so that he could find out the reason the crowd
was shouting at Paul
in this way.
22:25 When they had stretched him out for the lash,
Paul said to the centurion
standing nearby, “Is it legal for you to lash a man who is a Roman citizen
without a proper trial?”
22:26 When the centurion
heard this,
he went to the commanding officer
and reported it,
saying, “What are you about to do?
For this man is a Roman citizen.”
22:27 So the commanding officer
came and asked
Paul,
“Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”
He replied,
“Yes.”
22:28 The commanding officer
answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.”
“But I was even
born a citizen,”
Paul replied.
22:29 Then those who were about to interrogate him stayed away
from him, and the commanding officer
was frightened when he realized that Paul
was
a Roman citizen
and that he had had him tied up.
Paul Before the Sanhedrin
22:30 The next day, because the commanding officer wanted to know the true reason Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them.