Acts 9:7

And the men that journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but beholding no man.

Paul's account of this as given in Acts 22:9 states that his companions "heard not the voice of him that spake to me," and this is sometimes alleged as a contradiction of what is said here; but it should be noted that the word translated "voice" here may also be rendered "sound" (English Revised Version margin), revealing the meaning to be the same as that in John 12:29, where it was said that the multitudes hearing the voice out of heaven actually heard nothing but the noise, saying, "It thundered"; whereas, in fact, God had spoken audible and understandable words. Exactly the same phenomenon is referred to in Daniel 10:4f, where the account of Daniel's vision by the river Hiddekel, which vision he saw, carrying on a conversation with the angel; but the men with him did not see it. Also, it is evident, as Bruce said, that "Luke may very well mean here that it was Paul's voice that his companions heard, although they could neither see nor hear the person whom he seemed to be addressing."[15]

With regard to the other well-known pseudocon based upon the words "stood speechless," as here, contrasted with "When we were all fallen to the earth I heard a voice" (Acts 26:14), DeHoff's explanation refutes any allegation that these contradict each other. He wrote:

The expression "stood speechless" has no reference to posture. One may stand in doubt, stand firm, stand in fear, stand speechless, or stand in awe while in any position of the body. These "stood speechless" while flat on the earth.[16]

Attempts to make a contradiction here are founded upon an ignorance of idiom as used in every language on earth.

Regarding the awesome fact that some see and hear what others cannot see and hear, Morrison aptly explained it thus: "Ah, it is not the place that makes the difference; it is the heart. `Daniel said, I saw the vision, but the men who were beside me saw it not.'"[17] It was Christ's purpose not to speak to Saul's companions, but to speak to Saul; that all-sufficient will was enough to account for the fact of Saul's hearing though others did not.

[15] Ibid., p. 197.

[16] George DeHoff, Alleged Contradictions in the Bible (Murfreesboro, Tennessee: George DeHoff Publications, 1970), p. 230.

[17] G. H. Morrison, The Wings of the Morning (London: Hodder and Stoughton), p. 147.