13^* For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it,ⁱ 14and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.^j 15But when [God], who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleased^k 16to reveal his Son to me,^l so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,^* 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went into Arabia^* and then returned to Damascus.

18^* Then after three years^* I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.^m 19But I did not see any other of the apostles,ⁿ only James the brother of the Lord.^* 20(As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying.)^o 21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.^p 22And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”^q 24So they glorified God because of me.