² The king summoned the Gibeonites^(A) and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.)

³ “I am a Jew,^(A) born in Tarsus^(B) of Cilicia,^(C) but brought up in this city. I studied under^(D) Gamaliel^(E) and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors.^(F) I was just as zealous^(G) for God as any of you are today.

⁴ I persecuted^(A) the followers of this Way^(B) to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison,^(C)

⁶ as for zeal,^(A) persecuting the church;^(B) as for righteousness based on the law,^(C) faultless.