Acts 22:1

ἄνδρες ἀ. καὶ π., cf. Acts 7:2. So St. Stephen had addressed a similar assembly, in which had been Saul of Tarsus, who was now charged with a like offence as had been laid to the charge of the first Martyr. Those whom he addressed were his brethren according to the flesh, and his fathers, as the representatives of his nation, whether as Sanhedrists, or priests, or Rabbis. The mode of address was quite natural, since St. Paul's object was conciliatory: τοῦτο τιμῆς, ἐκεῖνο γνησιότητος, Chrys., Hom., xlvii. ἀκούσατε : “hear from me,” cf. John 12:47, a double genitive of the person and thing, as in classical Greek, or “hear my defence,” cf. 2 Timothy 4:16. ἀπολογίας : five times in St. Paul's Epistles, once elsewhere in Acts 25:16, in a strictly legal sense (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Used with the verb ἀπολογέομαι of defending oneself against a charge, Wis 6:10, Xen., Mem., iv., 8, 5. In 2Ma 13:26 the verb is also used of Lysias ascending the rostrum and addressing the people in defence.