Artists for Israel International · Online Exhibit

Acts & Yiddishkeit Ma'aseh HaShlichim — מַעֲשֵׂי הַשְּׁלִיחִים

Luke's second sefer, opening on Har HaZeitim and closing in Romi — the outpouring at Shavuot, the widening circle of Acts 1:8, and a kehillah that never once stopped calling its Master's death anything but "the eitz." 117 happenings across twenty-eight chapters restored to their Tanakh idiom, then set beside the Greek NT interlinear itself.

Soaked in Tanakh: Four Threads

Ma'aseh HaShlichim opens with talmidim still asking about a restored malchut and closes with an apostle preaching freely under Roman guard — a book that moves not by discourse, as Mattityahu does, but by geography, and argues its case less by fulfillment-formula than by drashah after drashah built out of Tehillim, the Neviim, and the Torah's own history retold.

Shavuot Fulfilled: Sinai Typology Reversed

  • Wind, fire, and a Voice that divides into every tongue present (Acts 2:1-4) fall precisely on Shavuot — the very feast that marks matan Torah, the giving of Torah at Sinai.
  • Where Bavel's own languages once scattered a people (Bereshit 11:1-9), Shavuot's tongues gather one — each hearer receiving "the wonders of G-d" in his own dialect, a deliberate un-doing of the Bavel narrative.
  • 3,000 souls are added that day (2:41) — an inverted echo of the 3,000 who fell at the first Shavuot after the Egel HaZahav (Shemot 32:28); the same feast, the same number, life where there had once been judgment.

Tehillim and the Neviim in the Earliest Drashos

  • Kefa's very first sermon leans on Yoel 2:28-32, Tehillim 16:8-11, and Tehillim 110:1 in succession (Acts 2:16-35) — the same Tehillim 110 later argued by Shaul at Pisidian Antioch (13:33-35) and by Yaakov at the Yerushalayim council by way of Amos 9:11-12 (15:16-17).
  • Stefanos' defense (ch. 7) and Shaul's synagogue drashah (13:16-23) both retell the whole Toldot from Avraham forward — the historical-recital genre of Nechemiah 9 and Tehillim 105-106, turned into courtroom and synagogue speech.
  • Devarim 18:15's "navi like unto Moshe" — the very verse this exhibit's Mattityahu companion page cites only in its subtitle — becomes Kefa's own explicit prooftext in Acts 3:22-23.

Machloket over the Goyim: Milah, and the Noahide Echo

  • The circumcision controversy (ch. 15) is settled not by requiring full conversion but by four prohibitions — idols, blood, things strangled, sexual immorality (15:20,29) — strikingly close to the later rabbinic Sheva Mitzvot Bnei Noach, a Torah-floor for the Goyim rather than proselyte status.
  • Kefa's own vision of the sheet (10:9-16) is never really about food; Kefa says as much himself — "G-d has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean" (10:28).
  • Shaul completes purification rites in the Beis HaMikdash at the elders' own urging (21:20-26), precisely to answer the report that he taught Yehudim in the Diaspora to forsake Moshe.

Aramaic Left Untranslated — and "the Eitz"

  • Akeldama, "the Field of Blood," is given "in their own language" (1:19) and left untransliterated in the Greek, exactly as Mattityahu leaves "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" standing in the original.
  • Barnabas is glossed on first mention as "Bar Nechama, Son of Encouragement" (4:36) — a kinnuy handed to the reader rather than simply translated away.
  • Neither Kefa nor Shaul ever names the Roman method of execution outright. Both reach instead for Devarim 21:22-23's own language — hanged Him on a tree — at 5:30, 10:39, and 13:29 alike: the identical circumlocution for tzlivah that this exhibit's companion page on Mattityahu keeps throughout its own Passion section.

Reading Key — Yerushalayim to Rome

This exhibit reads Ma'aseh HaShlichim through its own stated table of contents, given by the risen Yeshua on Har HaZeitim before He was taken up: "you shall be witnesses unto Me both in Yerushalayim, and in all Yehudah and Shomron, and unto the uttermost part of ha'aretz" (Acts 1:8) — three widening circles, and the whole sefer is their record.

➤ Yerushalayim (ch. 1-7) — Shavuot, the first drashos, the first martyr; the besurah still confined to the Beis HaMikdash courts and its own Sanhedrin.

➤ Yehudah v'Shomron (ch. 8-12) — Philip crosses into Samaritan territory, Kefa opens the door to Cornelius's house, Herod's persecution and the malach's own night-redemption.

➤ Ad Ketzeh HaAretz (ch. 13-28) — three journeys, a council at Yerushalayim to settle what the Goyim owe the Torah, arrest, three retellings of one Damascus road, a storm, and a house in Romi with an open door.

Where Mattityahu closes its five-book architecture on a single mountain with a Great Commission, Ma'aseh HaShlichim simply keeps going — the sefer's own last line finds Shaul still "preaching the malchut of G-d... no man forbidding him" (28:31), the circle of 1:8 left, deliberately, unfinished.

I. Hakdamah v'Aliyah — Prologue & Ascension(ch. 1)

  1. 1Address to Theophilus, recalling "all that Yeshua began to do and teach" Act 1:1-2The second sefer of one work, framed explicitly as continuing where the first left off.
  2. 2Forty days of appearances, teaching of the Malchut Hashem Act 1:3Forty-Day MotifEchoes Moshe's forty days on Har Sinai (Shemot 24:18) and Yeshua's own forty days of testing (Mattityahu's ch. 2 exhibit, item 13).
  3. 3"You shall be witnesses... Yerushalayim, Yehudah, Shomron, unto the uttermost part of ha'aretz" Act 1:8Table of ContentsThe geographic outline governing all twenty-eight chapters, laid down before a word of narrative has begun.
  4. 4The Ascension from Har HaZeitim Act 1:9-12Zechariah 14:4 names this exact mount as the place where Moshiach's feet will one day stand — now the place of His departure, a Shabbat day's journey from the city.
  5. 5Casting lots; Matityahu chosen to replace Yehudah among the Twelve Act 1:15-26Kefa cites Tehillim 69:26 and 109:8 directly; the Twelve restored to their full number, echoing the twelve shevatim.

II. Nitzchat Ruach HaKodesh — The Outpouring at Shavuot(ch. 2)

  1. 6Wind, fire, and tongues divided among all present Act 2:1-4Shavuot / Sinai TypologyFalls precisely on the feast of matan Torah — tradition holds the Voice at Sinai itself split into seventy tongues; here it is heard directly, each in his own language.
  2. 7Nations listed hearing "the wonders of G-d" each in his own tongue Act 2:5-11A deliberate reversal of Bereshit 11's Bavel narrative — languages that once scattered now gather.
  3. 8Kefa cites Yoel 2:28-32, "I will pour out My Ruach upon all flesh" Act 2:16-21The first apostolic drashah, anchored entirely in a Navi citation before a word of new teaching is offered.
  4. 9Kefa cites Tehillim 16:8-11, "You will not allow Your Chasid to see corruption" Act 2:25-28Read as Davidic prophecy of techiyah, since Dovid himself, Kefa notes, did see corruption and remains in his tomb.
  5. 10Kefa cites Tehillim 110:1, "sit at My right hand" Act 2:34-35The same psalm pressed by Yeshua Himself for its Davidic-yet-greater-than-David riddle (Mattityahu exhibit item 90) — now an apostolic prooftext for the resurrection.
  6. 11Kefa: "you have taken, and by wicked hands have put Him to death" Act 2:23No mechanism named — the same reticence toward the act itself that marks the Mattityahu Passion narrative throughout.
  7. 123,000 souls added at immersion Act 2:41Shavuot ReversalThe inverted echo of the 3,000 who fell after the Egel HaZahav on the first Shavuot (Shemot 32:28) — the identical number, now gathered rather than struck.
  8. 13The early kehillah — breaking bread, sharing possessions, daily in the Beis HaMikdash Act 2:42-47Beis HaMikdash attendance and home fellowship held together, tzedakah practiced as a matter of course.

III. Nes v'Din BaMikdash — Sign at the Beis HaMikdash & First Persecution(ch. 3-5)

  1. 14Healing of the lame man at the Sha'ar Yafeh Act 3:1-10Done openly "in the name of Yeshua HaNotzri," at one of the Beis HaMikdash's own named gates.
  2. 15Kefa's drashah in Ulam Shlomo — "the G-d of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov has glorified His Eved" Act 3:12-13Isaiah 52:13's Eved-language applied directly to Yeshua.
  3. 16"Times of refreshing... restoration of all things, spoken by the mouth of all His holy neviim" Act 3:19-21A sweeping appeal to the entire prophetic corpus as a still-unfulfilled promise.
  4. 17Kefa cites Devarim 18:15, "a navi like unto Moshe" Act 3:22-23Devarim 18:15The same verse this exhibit's own Mattityahu companion page names only in its subtitle — here made an explicit apostolic prooftext.
  5. 18Kefa and Yochanan arrested by kohanim, Tzedukim, and the Beis HaMikdash captain Act 4:1-3The first official clash with the Sanhedrin's own guard.
  6. 19Before the Sanhedrin: "the stone rejected by the builders" Act 4:11Tehillim 118 EchoTehillim 118:22, the same verse Yeshua Himself applied at the Beis HaMikdash (Mattityahu item 85), now spoken by Kefa before the very body that tried Him.
  7. 20"No other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved" Act 4:12A claim made in the same courts, before the same council, that once heard His.
  8. 21Released; the kehillah prays Tehillim 2 together, "why do the nations rage" Act 4:24-26Tehillim 2:1-2 applied corporately to Herod and Pilate's own conspiracy.
  9. 22Barnabas — "Bar Nechama, Son of Encouragement" — sells his field Act 4:36-37A kinnuy given untranslated, exactly as Akeldama and "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" are left standing in the original.
  10. 23Chananyah and Shapirah struck dead for lying to the Ruach HaKodesh Act 5:1-11Recalls the sudden judgment on Nadav and Avihu (Vayikra 10) — unauthorized approach to the holy met without delay.
  11. 24Apostles freed from prison by a malach in the night Act 5:17-21A night-redemption in miniature, ahead of Kefa's own larger release in ch. 12.
  12. 25"We ought to obey G-d rather than men" Act 5:29Before the same Sanhedrin, the same defiant register as Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah before Nevuchadnezzar.
  13. 26Gamliel's counsel — "if this counsel be of men, it will come to naught" Act 5:34-39A leading Perush voice — later named as Shaul's own teacher, 22:3 — counseling patience over zealotry.
  14. 27The apostles: "we ought to obey G-d rather than men," slain by wicked hands hanged on a tree Act 5:30"Hanged Him on a tree" — Devarim 21:22-23's own language, the identical circumlocution Kefa will repeat at 10:39 and Shaul at 13:29.

IV. Stefanos: Zikaron HaToldot — Stephen's Retelling & Martyrdom(ch. 6-7)

  1. 28Choosing of the seven to serve tables, including Stefanos Act 6:1-6An administrative division not unlike Moshe's appointment of judges at Yitro's counsel (Shemot 18).
  2. 29Stefanos, "full of faith and Ruach HaKodesh," disputed by the Synagogue of the Freedmen Act 6:8-10Opposition arises first from a Diaspora synagogue, not the Sanhedrin itself.
  3. 30Stefanos retells the Toldot from Avraham forward Act 7:2-8Sefer Toldot EchoedOpens with the same patriarchal history Mattityahu's own genealogy assumed at its first line — now spoken aloud as a full historical drashah.
  4. 31Yosef sold by his own brothers, exalted in Mitzrayim Act 7:9-16A betrayal-then-exaltation pattern that quietly shapes the whole speech's argument.
  5. 32Moshe rejected the first time, sent as deliverer the second Act 7:23-36"This Moshe whom they refused... the same did G-d send" — Stefanos' central claim, that Yisrael's history is a pattern of rejecting its own redeemers.
  6. 33The Egel HaZahav and worship of the host of heaven Act 7:39-43Amos 5:25-27 cited by name.
  7. 34"The Most High dwells not in mishkanot made with hands" Act 7:48-50Isaiah 66:1-2 cited — Shlomo's own words at the Beis HaMikdash's dedication (1 Melachim 8:27) audible behind the argument.
  8. 35"You stiffnecked... always resist the Ruach HaKodesh, as your fathers did" Act 7:51-53Shemot 32:9's own "stiffnecked" language turned back on the very council that once heard it read.
  9. 36Stefanos sees the heavens opened, the Ben HaAdam standing at the right hand Act 7:55-56Daniel 7:13 — Bar EnoshThe identical figure invoked at Yeshua's own trial (Mattityahu item 106), now confessed by the first martyr at the cost of his life.
  10. 37Stoned outside the city; witnesses lay their cloaks at a young man's feet, Shaul Act 7:58-8:1The text lingers on the garments, not the stones — the same reticence toward violence itself found throughout.

V. Shomron v'HaSaris — Philip in Samaria & the Ethiopian(ch. 8)

  1. 38Great persecution scatters the kehillah; Shaul ravages house to house Act 8:1-3The scattering itself becomes the means of the besurah's spread — persecution functioning as unwitting shlichut.
  2. 39Philip preaches Moshiach in Shomron, signs following Act 8:5-8Second Circle of 1:8The besurah crosses into Samaritan territory for the first time — an old enmity (2 Melachim 17) now bridged.
  3. 40Shimon the sorcerer believes, then offers silver for the Ruach's power Act 8:9-24Kesef offered for a spiritual gift — the very scene later lending its name to "simony."
  4. 41Philip and the Ethiopian saris reading Isaiah 53 on the Gaza road Act 8:26-39"As a sheep led to slaughter" — the Eved Song directly quoted and applied; the saris himself fulfills Isaiah 56:3-5's promise that such a one need not be cut off from Hashem's house.
  5. 42The saris immersed, goes on his way rejoicing Act 8:38-39A single-verse conversion narrative, no further word needed.

VI. Hafichat Shaul — The Damascus Road(ch. 9)

  1. 43Shaul, breathing threats, requests letters to Damascus synagogues Act 9:1-2The persecutor of ch. 7-8 now formally deputized to extend the campaign abroad.
  2. 44Light from heaven, "Shaul, Shaul, why do you persecute Me?" Act 9:3-5First of Three Tellings of Hashem's Merciful Terrorizing of the TerroristThe testimony Shaul will retell twice more, before the crowd (ch. 22) and before Agrippa (ch. 26), each retelling varying slightly, in the manner of a navi's own repeated call-narrative.
  3. 45Blind three days, fasting Act 9:9A brief wilderness of his own, between the old life and the new.
  4. 46Chananyah sent to restore his sight, calls him "Achi Shaul" Act 9:10-17Brother-language extended even to a former persecutor — the reconciliation motif Stefanos had just retold from Yosef's own story (item 31).
  5. 47Immersed in Moshiach Mikveh in Teshuvah, scales fall from his eyes Act 9:18Sight restored as the outward sign of the inward turning.
  6. 48Escapes Damascus over the wall in a basket Act 9:23-25A concealment-and-deliverance scene not unlike the spies let down from Rachav's window (Yehoshua 2:15).
  7. 49Barnabas vouches for him before the wary Yerushalayim kehillah Act 9:26-28The "Son of Encouragement" true to his own kinnuy from item 22.
  8. 50Kefa raises Tabitha/Dorcas at Yafo Act 9:36-42Echoes Elisha's own raising of the Shunammite's son (2 Melachim 4); her name is given both untranslated — Tabitha — and glossed, as with Barnabas above.

VII. Petach LaGoyim — Kefa, Cornelius & the Gentile Door(ch. 10-11)

  1. 51Cornelius, a G-d-fearing centurion, sees a malach Act 10:1-8A Roman officer already known in the Yehudi community for his own tzedakah and tefillah.
  2. 52Kefa's vision of the sheet — "what G-d has cleansed, call not common" Act 10:9-16Kashrut ReframedThe vision's true subject is not food but the Goyim themselves, as Kefa concludes in his own words at 10:28.
  3. 53Kefa preaches in Cornelius's house; the Ruach falls on the Goyim present Act 10:34-46"G-d is no respecter of persons" — Devarim 10:17's own language about Hashem, applied to Kefa's own change of heart.
  4. 54Kefa: slain, hanged on a tree, yet raised the third day Act 10:39-40The identical eitz circumlocution of 5:30, repeated now before the first Gentile household to hear it.
  5. 55Cornelius's household immersed Act 10:47-48The door Kefa's own vision had opened, now walked through.
  6. 56Kefa defends himself before the Yerushalayim kehillah — "who was I that I could withstand G-d?" Act 11:1-18The same man once reluctant even in vision now the chief advocate for what he had resisted.
  7. 57The name "Notzrim" first used, at Antioch Act 11:26Coined outside the Land for the first time, in a Greek-speaking Syrian city.
  8. 58Agavus prophesies famine; relief sent to Yehudah by Barnabas and Shaul Act 11:27-30Tzedakah collected across the growing Diaspora for the mother kehillah in Yerushalayim — a pattern Shaul returns to throughout his later letters.

VIII. Geulah m'Beit HaSohar — Herod's Persecution & Kefa's Rescue(ch. 12)

  1. 59Herod Agrippa kills Yaakov, brother of Yochanan, with the sword Act 12:1-2The first of the original Twelve to die — no vision, no rescue, only the plain fact stated.
  2. 60Kefa arrested, chained between two guards, during Chag HaMatzot Act 12:3-6Pesach TimingTimed deliberately during the same redemption-feast Yeshua reframed at the Last Supper (Mattityahu item 103).
  3. 61A malach releases Kefa; the chains fall away, "he thought he saw a vision" Act 12:7-11Recalls Yisrael's own night of redemption from Mitzrayim (Shemot 12) — an iron gate opening of its own accord.
  4. 62Rhoda too joyful to open the door Act 12:12-16A small, almost comic human detail set beside the miracle just described.
  5. 63Herod struck by a malach, eaten of worms, for accepting a crowd's cry that he spoke as a g-d Act 12:20-23An anti-type of Pharaoh's own hardened self-exaltation, judged as swiftly as Chananyah and Shapirah in ch. 5.
  6. 64"The word of G-d grew and multiplied" Act 12:24A closing summary-formula, marking the end of the Yehudah/Shomron circle before the journeys begin.

IX. Masa Rishon — First Journey: Cyprus & Asia Minor(ch. 13-14)

  1. 65Antioch kehillah fasts and lays hands on Barnabas and Shaul, sent by the Ruach Act 13:1-3The first formal shlichut-commissioning in the sefer, done with fasting and tefillah rather than a vision.
  2. 66Elymas the sorcerer struck blind on Cyprus before the proconsul Act 13:6-11Echoes Moshe's own contest with Pharaoh's magicians (Shemot 7-8) — sign-power authenticating the message before a Roman official.
  3. 67Shaul's drashah at Pisidian Antioch retells Yisrael's history from Mitzrayim to Dovid Act 13:16-23The identical historical-recital genre as Stefanos' own speech (item 30) — now delivered by the man who once approved of Stefanos' death.
  4. 68They took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a sepulcher Act 13:29Shaul's own version of the same eitz language Kefa used at 5:30 and 10:39.
  5. 69Cites Tehillim 2:7, Isaiah 55:3, and Tehillim 16:10 for the resurrection Act 13:33-35The identical Tehillim 16 prooftext Kefa used at Shavuot (item 9), now in a Diaspora synagogue's own mouth.
  6. 70"We turn to the Goyim" — cites Isaiah 49:6, "a light to the nations" Act 13:46-47Light to the NationsThe same Isaiah 49:6/42:6 text the Drashat HaHar itself had already echoed of the talmidim (Mattityahu item 19).
  7. 71Stoned and left for dead at Lystra, rises and continues Act 14:19-20A near-repeat of Stefanos' own death, this time survived.
  8. 72Elders appointed in every kehillah, with fasting and tefillah Act 14:23Structure following swiftly on the heels of proclamation, wherever a community takes root.

X. Ve'idat Yerushalayim — The Jerusalem Council(ch. 15)

  1. 73Dispute: must Gentile believers be circumcised to keep Torat Moshe? Act 15:1-5The question left unresolved since Kefa's own vision in ch. 10 now forced to a formal hearing.
  2. 74Kefa: "why put a yoke upon the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" Act 15:7-11Ol Torah QuestionThe same "yoke" language later rabbinic literature uses for Torah-observance itself.
  3. 75Yaakov cites Amos 9:11-12, "the tabernacle of Dovid that is fallen" Act 15:13-18A Navi text pressed to justify Gentile inclusion without full conversion.
  4. 76Apostolic decree: abstain from idols, blood, things strangled, sexual immorality Act 15:19-20,29Noahide EchoFour prohibitions strikingly close to the later Sheva Mitzvot Bnei Noach — a minimal Torah-floor for the Goyim rather than proselyte conversion.
  5. 77Letter sent to Antioch by Yehudah and Silas Act 15:22-31The council's ruling formalized in writing and carried, not merely spoken.

XI. Masa Sheni — Second Journey: Macedonia & Achaia(ch. 16-18)

  1. 78Timothy circumcised for the sake of local Yehudim, though son of a Greek father Act 16:1-3A pragmatic step distinct from the ch. 15 ruling for Gentiles — his mother a Jewish believer.
  2. 79Macedonian vision — "come over and help us" Act 16:9-10The besurah's first step onto European soil, prompted by a night vision as Kefa's own turn to Cornelius had been.
  3. 80Lydia, a seller of purple, first convert at a riverside place of tefillah Act 16:13-15A gathering outside any synagogue building — tefillah held simply by running water.
  4. 81Girl freed of a spirit of divination; Shaul and Silas imprisoned, an earthquake opens the doors Act 16:16-26The same iron-gate-opening motif of Kefa's own release (item 61), now attending a hymn sung at midnight.
  5. 82Jailer and household immersed Act 16:31-34A conversion born directly out of the very earthquake meant to punish, not free, its prisoners.
  6. 83Shaul at the Areopagus — "the Unknown G-d," quoting pagan poets toward techiyat hametim Act 17:22-31To the Goyim in Their Own IdiomThe one major speech in the sefer addressed to pure pagans rather than a synagogue — quoting their own poets as elsewhere he quotes Tanakh.
  7. 84Corinth — Shaul reasons in synagogue every Shabbat, tentmaking with Aquila and Priscilla Act 18:1-4A trade shared with fellow Yehudim, ordinary labor sustaining the drashah.
  8. 85Gallio dismisses the case against Shaul in Corinth Act 18:12-17A Roman magistrate declines to rule on what he treats as an internal Yehudi dispute.
  9. 86Shaul's Nazirite-style vow, hair cut at Cenchrea Act 18:18Bamidbar 6's nazir laws still observed by a Diaspora-facing apostle.
  10. 87Apollos, mighty in the Scriptures, further instructed by Priscilla and Aquila Act 18:24-26A learned man corrected privately, not publicly shamed, by a couple met earlier at their trade.

XII. Masa Shlishi — Third Journey: Ephesus & the Road to Yerushalayim(ch. 19-21)

  1. 88Ephesus — talmidim of Yochanan's mikveh alone receive Ruach HaKodesh on hearing further Act 19:1-7An incomplete teaching completed, not condemned.
  2. 89Handkerchiefs from Shaul's body heal the sick; itinerant exorcists overpowered Act 19:11-16Signs authenticate the name invoked, and expose those who invoke it without standing behind it.
  3. 90Scrolls of magic publicly burned, worth 50,000 pieces of silver Act 19:18-20A costly, visible break from the occult economy of the city.
  4. 91Riot of the silversmiths over Artemis of the Ephesians Act 19:23-41Commercial interest, not theology, drives the loudest opposition Shaul meets on this journey.
  5. 92Eutychus falls from a window during a long drashah, raised after falling as dead Act 20:7-12Echoes the Eliyahu/Elisha resurrection pattern again (cf. item 50).
  6. 93Farewell to the Ephesian elders at Miletus — "I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of G-d" Act 20:17-35A pastoral charge, not a sermon to the crowds, delivered with tears.
  7. 94Agavus binds his own hands and feet with Shaul's belt, prophesying arrest Act 21:10-11An enacted-sign prophecy, in the manner of Yeshayahu walking barefoot (Isaiah 20) or Yirmiyahu's own yoke (Jeremiah 27).
  8. 95Shaul completes purification rites in the Beis HaMikdash to show he still keeps Torah Act 21:20-26Torah Observance AffirmedAnswers directly the report that he taught Diaspora Yehudim to forsake Moshe — the same 21:20-21 this exhibit's Mattityahu companion page cites in its own subtitle.

XIII. Ma'asar v'Haganah — Arrest & Defense Speeches(ch. 22-26)

  1. 96Riot in the Beis HaMikdash; Shaul rescued by Roman soldiers Act 21:27-36Protection from the crowd comes, unexpectedly, from Roman rather than Yehudi hands.
  2. 97Shaul's defense to the crowd, retelling Damascus Act 22:1-16Second of Three TellingsSpoken in the crowd's own tongue — a second pass over the same testimony first given in ch. 9.
  3. 98Claims Roman citizenship, spared the scourge Act 22:25-29A legal status invoked here for protection, and again decisively in ch. 25.
  4. 99Before the Sanhedrin, splits Perushim and Tzedukim over techiyat hametim Act 23:6-10Shaul names himself "Ben Perushim," turning his own former party against the Tzedukim who deny resurrection.
  5. 100Forty men vow neither to eat nor drink till Shaul is dead; his nephew reveals the plot Act 23:12-22An oath in the register of a cherem-vow, foiled by a family member acting quietly.
  6. 101Before Felix at Caesarea; Tertullus accuses, Shaul answers Act 24:1-21A formal Roman hearing, professional accuser against personal defense.
  7. 102Felix trembles at Shaul's reasoning on righteousness and judgment, but delays for a bribe Act 24:24-27Conviction of conscience, followed immediately by ordinary corruption.
  8. 103Before Festus; Shaul appeals to Caesar Act 25:1-12The same citizenship right invoked in ch. 22, this time exercised decisively.
  9. 104Before King Agrippa — a third telling of the Damascus road Act 26:9-18Third of Three TellingsCompletes the pattern begun in ch. 9 and repeated in ch. 22 — the same testimony, retold a third time before a king.
  10. 105"Almost you persuade me to become a Notzri" Act 26:28Agrippa's own near-admission, left unresolved.
  11. 106Agrippa: "this man might have been set free, had he not appealed to Caesar" Act 26:31-32A verdict of innocence arriving one step too late to matter.

XIV. Sufah v'Romi — Shipwreck & Arrival in Romi(ch. 27-28)

  1. 107Sails for Romi; Shaul warns of danger, unheeded Act 27:9-12Counsel from experience overruled by official judgment.
  2. 108The storm, Euroclydon, fourteen days adrift Act 27:14-27A sea-tempest-and-deliverance narrative in the vein of Yonah's own storm (Yonah 1) — though here no one is cast overboard, and all aboard are spared.
  3. 109A malach promises "not a hair from the head of any of you shall perish" Act 27:22-25Assurance given mid-storm, before deliverance itself has come.
  4. 110Shipwreck at Malta; all 276 souls reach land safely Act 27:37-44The promise of item 109 kept in full — not one life lost.
  5. 111Viper bites Shaul's hand, he is unharmed; the islanders take him for a g-d Act 28:3-6An ironic echo of Herod's own end (item 63) — here the crowd's misjudgment is quietly corrected rather than punished.
  6. 112Publius's father healed; many others cured on Malta Act 28:7-10Hospitality answered with healing, in a place with no synagogue at all.
  7. 113Final appeal to the Roman Yehudim, citing Isaiah 6:9-10, "hearing you shall hear, and not understand" Act 28:23-28Yeshayahu's own commissioning-text, now used to explain the mixed reception the besurah has met across the whole sefer.
  8. 114Arrival in Romi; Shaul lodges under guard, welcomes all who come, preaching the Malchut Hashem, no man forbidding him Act 28:16,30-31An Open EndingThe sefer closes not with an execution report but with an open door — the widening circle of 1:8 left, deliberately, still widening.

Read the Greek Text Itself

All twenty-eight chapters of Ma'aseh HaShlichim, word for word, at the AFII Greek NT interlinear.

Act chp 1 chp 2 chp 3 chp 4 chp 5 chp 6 chp 7 chp 8 chp 9 chp 10 chp 11 chp 12 chp 13 chp 14 chp 15 chp 16 chp 17 chp 18 chp 19 chp 20 chp 21 chp 22 chp 23 chp 24 chp 25 chp 26 chp 27 chp 28