Passage

Acts 22.1

Book: Acts · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

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

And when they heard that he spake unto them in the Hebrew language, they were the more quiet: and he saith, 3. I 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: (Acts 22:1-3, ASV)

WEB

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

When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. He said, 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 today. (Acts 22:1-3, WEB)

KJV

1. Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you.

(And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) 3. I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. (Acts 22:1-3, KJV)

YLT

1. 'Men, brethren, and fathers, hear my defence now unto you;'

and they having heard that in the Hebrew dialect he was speaking to them, gave the more silence, and he saith, 3. 'I, indeed, am a man, a Jew, having been born in Tarsus of Cilicia, and brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, having been taught according to the exactitude of a law of the fathers, being zealous of God, as all ye are to-day. (Acts 22:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, speaking in Aramaic from the steps of the Antonia fortress
Audience: the Jerusalem crowd that had just tried to kill him
Location: the temple precinct, Jerusalem
Time period: c. AD 57

Theological reading

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

The word is apologia, and this is the New Testament's clearest instance of the term in its full forensic sense: a formal defence delivered to a hostile audience with the speaker's life at stake. It is the same word Paul uses at 1 Corinthians 9:3 and Peter at 1 Peter 3:15. See Apologetics.

Three features of the opening repay attention. The address, brethren and fathers, claims kinship with the crowd that has just dragged him from the temple, and it is the same phrase Stephen used to the council in 7:2, which Paul had heard. The language is Aramaic, which verse 2 says produced greater quiet, so Paul chose the tongue that established him as one of them rather than the Greek the tribune expected. And the content that follows is autobiography: his training under Gamaliel, his persecution of the Way, the road to Damascus.

The method is worth extracting. Facing a mob, Paul does not open with doctrine or with rebuke. He establishes common identity, speaks their language, and tells his own story, deferring the contested claim as long as possible. The crowd listens until verse 21, where he reports being sent to the Gentiles, and then erupts.

His defence is not a legal manoeuvre. It is testimony, and it costs him his liberty.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G3962 - pater, pater, Strong's G3962
G4314 - pros, pros, Strong's G4314

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Argument from Transformed Lives, via Acts 22.1-21

Concepts:

Apologist

Lexicon:

G627 - apologia

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.