Literary and historical context · Narrative
World, setting, and sequence
Keep places, audiences, sequence, and historical claims clearly labeled.
Use this page with the passage open. Follow the references, test each conclusion, and return to the whole book for context.
A clear route through the whole book
The units preserve the book’s order. Read the surrounding passage whenever a unit crosses a chapter boundary, and do not let a memorable verse replace the argument or story around it.
- Acts 1The risen Jesus teaching the apostles, being taken up, and the believers waiting together in prayer
- Acts 2Pentecost in the gathered house, the multilingual crowd hearing the message, Peter preaching, and a shared community forming
- Acts 3–4The man at the Beautiful gate healed, Peter and John before the council, and believers sharing resources in prayerful boldness
- Acts 5Ananias and Sapphira confronted, apostles imprisoned and released, and Gamaliel counseling restraint
- Acts 6–7The seven appointed to serve, Stephen speaking before the council, and his death outside the city
- Acts 8Persecution scattering believers, Philip preaching in Samaria, and the Ethiopian official reading Isaiah beside his chariot before baptism
- Acts 9Saul struck down on the Damascus road, Ananias entering the house, Saul receiving sight, and escaping the city in a basket
- Acts 10–11Cornelius praying, Peter’s rooftop vision, Gentiles receiving the word, and Peter explaining the event to Jerusalem believers
- Acts 12Peter led out of prison past sleeping guards and arriving at the praying house while Rhoda responds at the gate
- Acts 13–14Paul and Barnabas sent from Antioch, preaching in synagogues and towns, confronting opposition, and strengthening new believers
- Acts 15Apostles and elders debating Gentile inclusion in Jerusalem, listening to testimony, and composing the letter
- Acts 16Paul’s call toward Macedonia, Lydia beside the river, the prison opened at Philippi, and the jailer receiving the travelers into his house
- Acts 17Thessalonian opposition, Bereans examining the Scriptures, and Paul speaking at the Areopagus among Athenian altars
- Acts 18Paul working with Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth and Priscilla and Aquila explaining the way more fully to Apollos
- Acts 19Disciples in Ephesus, unusual signs, costly magic books burned, and the theater filled during the silversmiths’ riot
- Acts 20Paul teaching late at Troas, Eutychus restored, and the elders of Ephesus weeping with Paul at the shore
- Acts 21–23Paul arriving in Jerusalem, seized at the temple, speaking from the stairs, and protected after the assassination plot is exposed
- Acts 24–26Paul giving his defense before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa while appealing to Caesar
- Acts 27The storm at sea, sailors taking soundings, Paul encouraging the passengers, and the ship breaking near Malta
- Acts 28Paul surviving the viper, healing on Malta, arriving in Rome, and teaching under guard with an open door to visitors