'We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' - All fall prostrate (piptō, piptō-'fall'); Paul hears the voice in Aramaic (Hebrais, Hebrais-'in Hebrew,' i.e., Aramaic), addressing him by his Hebrew name. The voice's question cuts to the core: why persecute 'me' (eme, eme)-identifying the persecuted Christians with the risen Jesus. The proverb 'hard to kick against the goads' (sklēron soi pros kentra laktizein, sklēron soi pros kentra laktizein) invokes the image of an animal resisting a goad, causing itself pain. Paul's persecution is not success but self-destruction.

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