You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors.

Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and later went straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord, and I swear before God that what I have just written is the literal truth. After that I went to Syria and Cilicia, and was still not known by sight to the churches of Christ in Judaea, who had heard nothing except that their one-time persecutor was now preaching the faith he had previously tried to destroy; and they gave glory to God for me.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

O Lord, you search me and you know me,
  you know my resting and my rising,
  you discern my purpose from afar.
You mark when I walk or lie down,
  all my ways lie open to you.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

For it was you who created my being,
  knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I thank you for the wonder of my being,
  for the wonders of all your creation.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Already you knew my soul,
  my body held no secret from you
when I was being fashioned in secret
  and moulded in the depths of the earth.

Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends, says the Lord,
because I have made known to you
everything I have learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!