And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
[And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him.] The last clause of Acts 9:5, "[It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks]." and the first half of Acts 9:6, "[And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him.]" which we have enclosed within brackets, are found in no Greek manuscript either uncial or cursive; and though it is in the authorized Vulgate, the best copies of that version want them. But as the entire passage occurs in the apostle's own accounts of his conversion, it has thus doubtless crept into this place. And it will be convenient to take in the exposition of them here. (In the genuine text the words that follow the interpolation begin thus: 'But х alla (G235)] rise and go into the city,' etc.) The metaphor of an ox, only driving the goad deeper by kicking against it, is a classic one, and here forcibly expresses not only the vanity of all his measures for crushing the Gospel, but the deeper wound which every such effort inflicted upon himself. The question, 'What shall I do, Lord?' or "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" indicates a state of mind singularly interesting (see the note at Acts 2:37). Its elements seem to be these: first, resistless conviction that "Jesus whom he persecuted" - now speaking to him-was "Christ the Lord" (see the notes at Galatians 1:15-16); next, as a consequence of this, that not only all his religious views, but his whole religious character, had been an entire mistake-that he was up to that moment fundamentally and wholly wrong; further, that though his whole future was now a blank, he had absolute confidence in Him who had so tenderly arrested him in his blind career, and was ready both to take in all His teaching, and to carry out all His directions. Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. See the notes on the similar direction given to Philip, Acts 8:26.