Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said—(The most ancient manuscripts and versions of the New Testament lack all these words here [including the last clause of Acts 9:5]; but they occur in Acts 26:14 and Acts 22:10, from which they appear to have been inserted here). The question, "What shall I do, Lord?" or, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" indicates a state of mind singularly interesting (see on Acts 2:37). Its elements seem to be these: (1) Resistless conviction that "Jesus whom he persecuted," now speaking to him, was "Christ the Lord." (See on Galatians 1:15-16). (2) 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. (3) 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. (For more, see on Acts 9:9).
Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee, etc.—See on Acts 8:26-28.
he fell to the earth—and his companions with him (Acts 26:14), who "saw the light" (Acts 22:9).
and heard a voice saying unto him—"in the Hebrew tongue" (Acts 26:14).
Saul, Saul—a reduplication full of tenderness [DE WETTE]. Though his name was soon changed into "Paul," we find him, in both his own narratives of the scene, after the lapse of so many years, retaining the original form, as not daring to alter, in the smallest detail, 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 an infuriated, persecuting mortal. (See Matthew 25:45, and that whole judgment scene).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Acts 9:6:
Song of Solomon 8:8
Isaiah 6:8
Acts 2:37-40
Acts 22:4
Galatians 1:15
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