And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he fell to the earth - and his companions fell with him (Acts 26:14),
And heard a voice saying unto him - "in the Hebrew tongue" (Acts 26:14),
Saul, Saul - a reduplication (says DeWette) full of tenderness. Accordingly, though his name was soon changed into "Paul," we find in both his own narratives of the scene, after the lapse of many years, the original form retained, even in the Greek, just as here; neither he nor the historian (who doubtless often heard him describe the scene) daring to alter, in the smallest tittle, the overpowering words addressed to him.
Why persecutest thou me? No language can express the affecting character of this question, addressed from the right hand of the Majesty on high to a poor, infuriated, persecuting mortal.