Chapter
Verse

Acts 22:5

ESV as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.
NIV as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.
NASB as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brothers, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
CSB as both the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. After I received letters from them to the brothers, I traveled to Damascus to arrest those who were there and bring them to Jerusalem to be punished.
NLT The high priest and the whole council of elders can testify that this is so. For I received letters from them to our Jewish brothers in Damascus, authorizing me to bring the followers of the Way from there to Jerusalem, in chains, to be punished.
KJV As 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 went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
NKJV as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.

What does Acts 22:5 mean?

Persons unknown accused Paul of telling Jews they should forsake the Mosaic law (Acts 21:20–21). Jews from Asia, a province in modern-day Turkey, accuse him of bringing a Gentile into the temple (Act 21:27–29). Paul tries to defend himself. Teaching against the Mosaic law was a capital offense in Judaism, but the Jews had largely lost their right to execution (John 18:31). Defacing a religious structure, however, was a capital offense against the Roman law.

Paul starts his defense by recounting his earlier intense devotion to the Mosaic law. He had been trained by the Pharisee Gamaliel, a very influential rabbi. Gamaliel taught Paul not only the Law, but the extra-biblical regulations Pharisees devoutly follow. When the church started growing in Jerusalem, Paul fought fervently against it. He not only looked on with approval as a vicious mob murdered the evangelist Stephen (Acts 7:54–60; 22:20), he tracked down Jesus-followers in Jerusalem so violently they fled to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1–3; 26:10–11). When he had done all he could in Judea, he requested and received permission from the Sanhedrin to hunt Christians in Damascus (Acts 9:1–2).

The "council" is the Sanhedrin—the group of elders, scribes, and priests responsible for enforcing the Mosaic law. The Mosaic law designates qualified descendants of Aaron as priests and one single man as high priest, but in the time between the Old and New Testaments, the priesthood became corrupt and then politicized. By this time, it was ruled largely by a single family. "High priest" was a title not only for the single ruling priest but also those who held the position before as well as others with influence. Elders were typically businessmen who acted as judges for their cities. It is likely that at least some of these men are present. It is the council who authorized Paul's earlier attacks against Christians.
Expand
Expand
Expand
What is the Gospel?
Download the app: