When the officer heard this, he went to the commander and reported it. The officer said, “Do you know what you are doing? This man is a Roman citizen.”
But as the soldiers were tying him up, preparing to beat him, Paul said to an officer nearby, “Do you have the right to beat a Roman citizen who has not been proven guilty?”
The men who were preparing to question Paul moved away from him immediately. The commander was frightened because he had already tied Paul, and Paul was a Roman citizen.