25 As they stretched him out and tied him down to flog him, Paul asked the centurion standing there, "Is it legal to flog a Roman citizen who hasn’t had a trial?"
26 When the centurion heard what Paul said, he went to the commander and asked him, "What are you doing? This man is a Roman citizen." 27 The commander came, and asked Paul, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"
Paul replied, "Yes I am."
28 "I paid a lot of money to buy Roman citizenship," said the commander.
"But I was born a citizen," Paul replied.