“But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:”
But the Lord said to him, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.'—the designation 'chosen instrument' (skeuos eklochē, literally 'chosen vessel') echoes Jeremiah's commissioning (Jer 1) and establishes Saul as a prophetic tool of divine purposes. The triad (Gentiles, kings, Israel) encompasses both political and ethnic scope; Paul will literally appear before kings and preach in the synagogues. His former persecution becomes the matrix for his apostolic calling—he knows the stakes.
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