In the meantime Saul kept up his violent threats of murder against the followers of the Lord. He went to the High Priest

and asked for letters of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he should find there any followers of the Way of the Lord, he would be able to arrest them, both men and women, and bring them back to Jerusalem.

The High Priest and the whole Council can prove that I am telling the truth. I received from them letters written to fellow Jews in Damascus, so I went there to arrest these people and bring them back in chains to Jerusalem to be punished.

That is what I did in Jerusalem. I received authority from the chief priests and put many of God's people in prison; and when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them.

Then she wrote some letters, signed Ahab's name to them, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the officials and leading citizens of Jezreel.

Get a couple of scoundrels to accuse him to his face of cursing God and the king. Then take him out of the city and stone him to death."

You have nothing to do with corrupt judges, who make injustice legal,

who plot against good people and sentence the innocent to death.

You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people.

and as soon as I had finished all that the LORD had commanded me to speak, they grabbed me and shouted, "You ought to be killed for this!

"The LORD made you a priest in place of Jehoiada, and you are now the chief officer in the Temple. It is your duty to see that every crazy person who pretends to be a prophet is placed in chains with an iron collar around the neck.

Why haven't you done this to Jeremiah of Anathoth, who has been speaking as a prophet to the people?

When the guards went back, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, "Why did you not bring him?"

"Did he fool you, too?" the Pharisees asked them.

The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he must report it, so that they could arrest him.