140 Fun Facts About Book of Acts

At which festival, with Jews 'from every nation under heaven' in Jerusalem, did the Holy Spirit fill the disciples?

Pentecost was the morning some onlookers decided the disciples had 'had too much wine', and Peter's reply was that it was only nine o'clock. The sound was 'like the blowing of a violent wind'.

What, in Acts 2, 'separated and came to rest on each of' the disciples after a sound like a violent wind?

Tongues of fire is the picture Acts gives, and at once the Galileans were speaking languages understood by Parthians, Medes, Cretans, Arabs and visitors from Rome.

Who was chosen by lot over Joseph called Barsabbas to replace Judas among the Twelve, in Acts 1?

Matthias won the lot before a group 'numbering about a hundred and twenty', the only qualification being to have been with Jesus from John's baptism to the day he was taken up.

Which field, where Acts says Judas 'fell headlong' and his body burst open, was bought with his reward for betrayal?

Akeldama, 'Field of Blood', gets a different origin in Matthew, where Judas hangs himself and the priests buy the field with the returned silver as a burial ground for foreigners.

Which wife in Acts 5 dropped dead at Peter's feet three hours after her husband, both having lied about a land sale?

Sapphira had 'full knowledge' that her husband Ananias kept back part of the money, and Peter told her the feet of the men who had just buried him were at the door. 'Great fear seized the whole church.'

Which of the Seven chosen to wait on tables, his face 'like the face of an angel', became the first Christian martyr?

Stephen died praying 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them', while the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul, who approved of the killing.

What does Acts 9 say fell from Saul's eyes when Ananias laid hands on him, ending three days of blindness in Damascus?

Something like scales fell away and Saul 'got up and was baptized', after Ananias had protested to the Lord that this was the man with authority to arrest everyone who called on the name.

In which city were followers first called Christians, after Barnabas fetched Saul to teach there for a whole year?

Antioch heard the name first, and the same church sent famine relief to Judea by Barnabas and Saul and later set the pair apart for the first missionary journey.

What happened to King Herod when a crowd hailed him as a god?

He was eaten by worms and died, struck by an angel 'because Herod did not give praise to God'. The historian Josephus tells the story too, adding that the king looked up and saw an owl, an ill omen, before the pain struck.

On which island, whose people 'showed us unusual kindness', was Paul's ship wrecked after fourteen nights adrift?

Malta sheltered the castaways for three months of winter, and the island marks the wreck with a public holiday each 10 February, the Feast of St Paul's Shipwreck.

Which prophet's line 'I will pour out my Spirit on all people' did Peter quote to explain what the crowd was hearing?

Joel supplied the text, with its 'sons and daughters will prophesy' and a sun turned to darkness, and Peter's sermon ended with about three thousand people being baptized that day.

At which temple gate did Peter heal a man lame from birth, telling him 'Silver or gold I do not have'?

Beautiful was where the beggar had been carried every day, and the healed man went into the temple courts 'walking and jumping, and praising God'; he was over forty years old.

Which teacher of the law talked the Sanhedrin out of killing the apostles, citing the failed rebels Theudas and Judas?

Gamaliel is the teacher Paul later claims in Acts 22 to have studied under, and his advice got the apostles flogged and released rather than killed.

What did the sick, laid on mats in Jerusalem's streets, hope would at least reach them as Peter passed by?

His shadow was enough of a hope for people to bring the sick into the streets, at a time when 'no one else dared join' the believers meeting in Solomon's Colonnade.

Which word comes from the Samaritan sorcerer who offered Peter money for the Spirit's power in Acts 8?

Simony, the buying of church office, takes its name from Simon Magus, whom Peter told 'May your money perish with you'; the sorcerer had earlier been hailed in Samaria as 'the Great Power of God'.

Which prophet was the Ethiopian treasury official reading aloud in his chariot when Philip ran up on the Gaza road?

Isaiah's 'led like a sheep to the slaughter' was the passage, and after Philip explained it the official was baptized in roadside water and 'went on his way rejoicing'.

On which Damascus street, at the house of Judas, was Ananias sent to find Saul, blind and at prayer?

Straight is a plain description: the street was the main Roman road, running east to west right across Damascus, and it survives in the old city. Saul had by then gone three days without eating.

Which disciple in Joppa, 'always doing good', did Peter raise from the dead as widows showed the robes she had made?

Tabitha, whose Greek name Dorcas likewise means 'gazelle', was raised after Peter sent everyone out of the upstairs room, knelt, and said 'Tabitha, get up'.

Which centurion of the Italian Regiment at Caesarea was told by an angel to send to Joppa for Peter?

Cornelius is counted by some as the first Gentile convert, and the Spirit fell on his whole household while Peter was still speaking, before anyone had been baptized.

What did Peter see let down from heaven by its four corners while hungry on a rooftop in Joppa?

A large sheet full of 'four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds' came with the command to kill and eat, and the voice answered Peter's refusal: 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.'

Which prophet tied his own hands and feet with Paul's belt at Caesarea to act out the arrest awaiting him in Jerusalem?

Agabus had earlier predicted 'through the Spirit' a severe famine across the whole Roman world, and Paul answered the belt sign that he was ready not only to be bound but to die in Jerusalem.

Which apostle did King Herod put to death with the sword in Acts 12 before moving to seize Peter?

James, the brother of John, was killed 'with the sword', and when Herod 'saw that this met with approval among the Jews' he seized Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

Which servant girl, overjoyed to hear Peter's voice at the door after his escape, ran back without opening it?

Rhoda was not believed: when she kept insisting, the people praying inside decided 'It must be his angel', and Peter was left knocking at the door until they finally opened it.

To which island, the home of Barnabas, did Paul and Barnabas sail from Seleucia to open the first missionary journey?

Cyprus was crossed from Salamis to Paphos, where the proconsul Sergius Paulus believed, and it is the island Barnabas sailed back to after his later split with Paul.

Which sorcerer did Paul strike blind 'for a time' for trying to turn the proconsul Sergius Paulus from the faith?

Elymas, also called Bar-Jesus, was told 'you are a child of the devil', and the mist that fell on him so impressed the proconsul that he believed; in that scene Saul is first called Paul.

Which god did a Lycaonian crowd take Paul for, 'because he was the chief speaker', while hailing Barnabas as Zeus?

Hermes got the title because the crowd had just watched Paul heal a man lame from birth, and the priest of Zeus arrived with bulls and wreaths before the two apostles tore their clothes in protest.

In which Lycaonian city was Paul stoned, dragged out and left for dead, only to get up and walk back in?

Lystra was where a crowd that had wanted to sacrifice to him was won over by Jews from Iconium; the next day Paul left for Derbe, and on a later visit he recruited a young disciple there.

Which helper, who had deserted them in Pamphylia, caused Paul and Barnabas to disagree so sharply that they parted?

Mark was the son of Mary, in whose Jerusalem house the church had prayed for Peter, and Barnabas took him to sea while Paul chose a new partner and went overland.

Which prophet, carrier of the Jerusalem council's letter, did Paul choose as his partner for the second journey?

Silas soon shared Paul's punishments: at Philippi the two were stripped, beaten with rods and jailed together. He is traditionally identified with the Silvanus of Paul's letters.

Which disciple, son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father, did Paul circumcise before taking him along on the road?

Timothy was circumcised 'because of the Jews who lived in that area', who all knew his father was Greek, and the believers of two towns had spoken well of him before Paul took him.

Which region did the man in Paul's night vision at Troas beg him to 'come over' to, taking the gospel into Europe?

Macedonia was the answer after the Spirit had twice blocked the party, from preaching in the province of Asia and from entering Bithynia, and the narrative switches to 'we' at this point.

Which purple-cloth dealer from Thyatira, baptized with her household at Philippi, persuaded Paul to stay at her house?

Lydia is regarded as the first documented convert to Christianity in Europe, and after Paul's release from the city jail it was to her house that he went before leaving town.

What burst open every door of the Philippi jail at midnight as Paul and a companion sang hymns to God?

An earthquake so violent that 'the foundations of the prison were shaken' loosed everyone's chains, and the jailer was about to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had escaped, before being baptized that same night.

In which city did Jews 'of more noble character' than those in Thessalonica examine the Scriptures daily to test Paul?

Berea is today's Veria in northern Greece, and the agitators from Thessalonica soon followed Paul there, so the believers hurried him to the coast while his companions stayed behind.

What inscription did Paul say he had found on an Athenian altar, in his speech to the Areopagus?

To an unknown god was the text Paul used to introduce 'the God who made the world', and the speech ended with sneers at the resurrection, though a member of the Areopagus and a woman named Damaris believed.

Which two schools of philosophers debated Paul in the Athens marketplace, some calling him a 'babbler'?

Epicureans and Stoics heard Paul as 'advocating foreign gods' because he preached 'Jesus and the resurrection', and Acts notes that Athenians spent their time on nothing but the latest ideas.

What trade did Paul share with Aquila and Priscilla, the couple arrived from Italy whom he lodged with in Corinth?

Tentmaking let Paul pay his own way, as he told the Ephesian elders 'these hands of mine have supplied my own needs', and the couple later sailed with him as far as Ephesus and stayed there.

Which proconsul of Achaia dismissed the Jews' case against Paul in Corinth as 'questions about words and names'?

Gallio's name in an emperor's letter found at Delphi, written about 52 CE, gives the firmest date in Paul's life. In Acts the crowd then beat the synagogue leader in front of him, and 'Gallio showed no concern whatever'.

Which emperor 'ordered all Jews to leave Rome', which is why Aquila and Priscilla were in Corinth when Paul arrived?

Claudius is also said by the Roman historian Suetonius to have expelled Jews from Rome, over disturbances 'at the instigation of Chrestus'; Acts earlier dates a famine foretold by a prophet to the same emperor's reign.

Which Alexandrian Jew, who 'knew only the baptism of John', did Priscilla and Aquila take aside in Ephesus to teach?

Apollos went on to Corinth, where Paul's first letter to that church names him as an important figure, and Acts says he 'vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate'.

Which goddess's name did an Ephesian mob chant for about two hours in the theater, stirred up by a silversmith?

Artemis of the Ephesians had a temple counted among the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, and the riot began because Paul's preaching threatened the trade in silver shrines of the goddess.

What fastened on Paul's hand as he fed a brushwood blaze, making the islanders who watched call him a murderer?

A viper, 'driven out by the heat', hung from his hand until Paul shook it off into the flames; when he neither swelled up nor dropped dead, the islanders changed their minds and called him a god.

To whom did Paul appeal when Festus proposed a trial in Jerusalem, settling that he would be sent on to Rome?

Caesar was Paul's choice, in the words 'I appeal to Caesar!', and it was binding: Festus was later told 'This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar'.

To which reader, named in its opening sentence, is the book of Acts addressed?

Theophilus is also the 'most excellent Theophilus' of Luke's Gospel. His name can mean 'friend of God', so some readers take him for any believer and not one real patron.

Which young man, seated in a window at Troas, fell dead from the third story as Paul 'talked on and on'?

Eutychus means 'fortunate' in Greek, and Paul threw himself on the body, declared 'He's alive!', went back upstairs, broke bread and kept talking until daylight.

Which governor, hearing Paul with his Jewish wife Drusilla, kept him at Caesarea two years hoping for a bribe?

Felix 'was afraid' when Paul spoke of righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, and when he left office two years later he left Paul in prison 'to grant a favor to the Jews'.

Which king, beside Bernice at Caesarea, asked if Paul thought he could 'in such a short time' make him a Christian?

Agrippa, the last ruler of the Herodian dynasty, heard Paul wish that everyone listening might become 'what I am, except for these chains', and privately agreed he had done nothing deserving death.

Seven sons of which chief priest were beaten in Ephesus by a possessed man they tried to exorcise in Jesus' name?

Sceva's sons were answered 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?' before fleeing naked and bleeding, after which former sorcerers burned scrolls worth fifty thousand drachmas.

Which Areopagus member became a follower of Paul after the Athens speech and is by tradition the city's first bishop?

Dionysius left a name famous enough that centuries later an unknown mystical writer published under it and is still called Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite; Acts pairs him with 'a woman named Damaris'.

Which queen's treasury was run by the Ethiopian official whom Philip baptized on the Gaza road?

Candace was a title, not a name: the Kandake was the queen or queen mother of Kush, the Nile kingdom in what is now Sudan, and Greek and Roman writers mistook the word for her name.

Which saying of Jesus appears in Acts but no Gospel?

It is more blessed to give than to receive is quoted by Paul in his farewell to the Ephesian elders as 'the words the Lord Jesus himself said', just after he notes that he had worked with his own hands to support himself.

Which twin gods were the figurehead of the Alexandrian ship that took Paul on from the island where he was wrecked?

Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, were the sailors' patron gods, so Luke's detail has the apostle carried to Italy under pagan protectors. The ship had spent the winter at the island before it sailed.

Which items that had merely touched Paul were carried to the sick, curing them and expelling evil spirits, in Acts 19?

Handkerchiefs and aprons, a craftsman's sweat-cloths and work aprons, were carried off as relics while their owner was still alive, in miracles Acts 19 calls 'extraordinary'.

Hearing Paul speak Greek after rescuing him from a temple riot, the Roman commander admitted he had taken him for whom?

An Egyptian rebel leader who had led 'four thousand terrorists' into the wilderness was the commander's guess; Paul replied that he was a Jew from Tarsus, 'a citizen of no ordinary city', and asked to address the crowd.

Which relative of Paul overheard the plot to ambush him in Jerusalem and carried the warning into the Roman barracks?

His sister's son, a young man Acts never names, was led by a centurion to the commander, who told him to tell no one and moved Paul out of the city under a heavy night escort.

What name does Acts 9 give the movement whose members Paul, then still a persecutor, got letters to arrest abroad?

The Way is what Acts calls the movement before anyone had coined the word Christian, and the label recurs in chapters 19, 22 and 24. The letters were addressed to the synagogues of Damascus.

What did Governor Festus shout at Paul mid-defence, blaming his 'great learning'?

You are out of your mind was Festus's verdict on Paul's account of the resurrection, and Paul's reply was that what he said was 'true and reasonable'. He then asked the king beside Festus whether he believed the prophets.

What did a band of Jerusalem conspirators swear to forgo until they had killed Paul, in the plot Acts 23 describes?

Food and drink were sworn off by more than forty men, who asked the Sanhedrin to call Paul to a hearing so they could ambush him. He was moved to the coast under guard that same night, before the trap could be sprung.

Which party, says an aside in Acts 23, holds that 'there are neither angels nor spirits' and no resurrection?

The Sadducees' denial of resurrection let Paul split the Sanhedrin: by declaring himself a Pharisee on trial 'because of the hope of the resurrection', he set the two parties shouting at each other.

Acts 1:8 sends witnesses to Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and finally where?

To the ends of the earth is the last stage of a programme the book then follows chapter by chapter, ending with Paul preaching in the empire's capital. The promise comes with 'power when the Holy Spirit comes on you'.

In Acts 1, what hid Jesus from the apostles' sight as he was taken up 'before their very eyes'?

A cloud hid him from their sight, the same image Daniel uses for the Son of Man coming 'with the clouds of heaven'. Two men in white then asked the apostles why they stood staring at the sky.

What did two men in white tell the apostles after Jesus was taken up?

He will come back the same way 'you have seen him go into heaven', the men said, addressing the disciples as 'Men of Galilee'. The apostles then returned to an upstairs room in Jerusalem and gave themselves to prayer.

What did Peter reply to the Sanhedrin's order to stop teaching?

We must obey God rather than human beings so enraged the council that it wanted the apostles put to death, until a respected rabbi urged restraint. They left after a flogging, rejoicing.

Which letter of Paul directly follows Acts in the New Testament?

Romans follows Acts, so the reader goes from Paul's arrival in Rome to his letter to the Christians there, the longest he wrote, probably sent from Corinth years before he had seen the city.

Which emperor, never named in Acts, ruled when Paul reached Rome as a prisoner?

Nero goes unnamed in Acts, which stops with Paul's case still unheard after two years; early Christian tradition holds that Paul was later beheaded in Rome under the same emperor.

After Paul and a companion were beaten with rods, in what did their jailer fasten their feet inside the inner cell?

Stocks held the pair's feet as they prayed and sang at midnight, and in the morning the magistrates who had ordered the beating came in person to appease them, alarmed to learn they were Roman citizens.

After Peter vanished from his cell on the eve of a public trial, what did King Herod order done with the guards?

They were executed after a thorough search failed, Roman practice holding guards liable for a prisoner's escape. Herod then left for the coast, where his own sudden death is the chapter's closing scene.

With a man of which trade did Peter lodge 'for some time' in Joppa, just before his vision about unclean animals?

A tanner named Simon hosted Peter, a trade that handled dead animals' hides — an odd lodging for a man about to have his purity rules overturned. The centurion's messengers found him at that house by the sea.

Where were the apostles found the morning after an angel freed them from jail?

Teaching in the temple courts is where the angel had told them to go, and the Sanhedrin sat waiting for prisoners its officers could not find behind still-locked doors.

What did the Lord call the newly blinded Paul when telling a wary disciple to go and lay hands on him?

My chosen instrument 'to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings' was the Lord's answer to the disciple's protest that this man had come to arrest believers. He added how much Paul would have to suffer.

Which bedridden man in Lydda, paralysed for eight years, did Peter tell to 'get up and roll up your mat'?

Aeneas shares his name with Virgil's Trojan hero, and his healing turned the whole plain of Sharon to the faith, Acts says. It is followed at once by the raising of a much-loved seamstress in nearby Joppa.

Besides idol food, sexual immorality and blood, what did the Jerusalem council's letter tell Gentiles to avoid?

Meat of strangled animals still held its blood, which is why the ban sits beside blood itself in a list that otherwise waved away circumcision and the rest of the law for Gentiles. The letter ended simply: 'Farewell.'

Whose house did a Thessalonian mob storm looking for Paul, dragging the owner before the city officials instead?

Jason had to post bond before the officials let him go, and the charge shouted against his guests was that they defied the emperor's decrees by 'saying that there is another king'. Paul was smuggled out of town that night.

Which silversmith started a riot by warning fellow craftsmen that Paul's preaching threatened their shrine trade?

Demetrius's speech mixed piety with profit, admitting 'we receive a good income from this business' before invoking the goddess's honour. The city clerk finally dispersed the two-hour riot by warning of Roman reprisals.

What did Paul warn the Ephesian elders would 'come in among you and will not spare the flock' once he had gone?

Savage wolves would even rise 'from your own number', Paul added, making the Miletus farewell a warning about insiders as much as persecutors. The elders wept because he said they would never see his face again.

What did Paul call the high priest who ordered him struck on the mouth at his hearing before the Sanhedrin?

A whitewashed wall echoes Jesus's 'whitewashed tombs', fair outside and foul within. Told he had insulted the high priest, Paul said he had not known who the man was and quoted the law against cursing a ruler.

In the conversion story Paul told a visiting king, what did the voice say was hard for him to do?

Kick against the goads pictures an ox hurting itself by fighting the driver's pointed stick. The saying is found in Greek playwrights such as Euripides, yet Paul says the voice spoke 'in Aramaic'.

What name does Acts 27 give the hurricane-force wind that swept Paul's ship away after it left Fair Havens?

The Northeaster, called Euroclydon in older English Bibles, drove the ship off its course along Crete toward the open sea; the crew passed ropes under the hull and threw the tackle overboard. They saw neither sun nor stars for days.

As Paul's ship broke up, what did the soldiers plan to do with the prisoners before the centurion stepped in?

Kill them was the plan, 'to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping', but the centurion wanted to spare Paul, so all 276 people aboard reached land, some swimming and the rest on planks or pieces of the ship.

Whose father, sick with fever and dysentery, did Paul heal on the island that took in the shipwreck survivors?

Publius, the chief official, had hosted the survivors for three days, and after his father's healing the rest of the island's sick came to be cured too. Local tradition makes him the island's first bishop.

In whose lecture hall did Paul hold daily discussions in Ephesus after the synagogue turned against him?

Tyrannus's hall, used for two years, gave Paul a base from which Acts says 'all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia' heard the word. His name is the Greek word for an absolute ruler, the root of 'tyrant'.

Across which sea does Acts 27 say the ship was 'still being driven' on the fourteenth night of the storm?

The Adriatic in ancient usage stretched far south of today's sea, reaching the waters between Sicily and Crete, which is why a ship blown off Crete could still be 'in Adria'. Sailors sensed land that midnight.

Which Jewish observance does Acts 27 name as already past when 'sailing had already become dangerous'?

The Day of Atonement falls in September or October, when ancient shipping began shutting down for the winter, so Paul's warning of disaster was seasoned advice. The centurion trusted the ship's owner and pilot instead.

How many Roman troops marched Paul out of Jerusalem at night to foil an ambush by some forty plotters?

470 men, 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen, guarded one prisoner against some forty plotters, a measure of how seriously the commander took his duty to a Roman citizen. The infantry turned back at Antipatris.

Which of the Seven picked in Acts 6 to oversee the daily food distribution is singled out as 'a convert to Judaism'?

Nicolas is the only one of the Seven described as a proselyte, not born Jewish, and all seven bear Greek names, picked to serve the Greek-speaking widows who had complained of being overlooked.

Men from which group's synagogue, losing an argument with one of the Seven, arranged false witnesses against him?

The Freedmen were probably Jews who had been enslaved and later freed, or their descendants. Unable to win the debate with the deacon, they found men to say he spoke against Moses and God.

Which prophet-teacher in the church that sent Paul out had been 'brought up with Herod the tetrarch'?

Manaen grew up alongside Herod Antipas, the tetrarch who had John the Baptist beheaded, yet ended up a leader of the Syrian church that commissioned the first missionary journey. The same list names Simeon called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene.

Which Greek poet's line 'We are his offspring' did Paul quote to the Athenians as from 'some of your own poets'?

Aratus opened his star poem Phaenomena with the line, in praise of Zeus, and Paul turned it to argue that God's children should not picture him as gold, silver or stone. The poet came from Paul's own home region, Cilicia.

To which port did Paul walk overland from Troas while his companions went ahead by ship to pick him up?

Assos was about twenty miles from Troas by road, roughly half the distance the ship had to sail around the cape, and Acts gives no reason for Paul's walk beyond 'he had made this arrangement'.

Believers from the capital walked out to meet Paul at the Forum of Appius and at which other halt on the road?

The Three Taverns was a post station on the Appian Way south of Rome, and meeting the brothers there, Acts says, made Paul thank God and take courage. He entered the city as a prisoner with a single soldier to guard him.

In Acts 2, what did mockers accuse the apostles of when the Jerusalem crowd heard them speaking many languages?

Being drunk on 'too much wine' was the mockers' charge, and Peter replied that it was only nine in the morning before launching into his sermon.

What question did a voice from heaven put to Saul as a light flashed around him near Damascus?

'Why do you persecute me?' followed his name called twice, and when the fallen Saul asked who was speaking, the voice answered, 'I am Jesus'.

How did Saul's followers get him out of Damascus by night while plotters kept watch on the city gates?

Lowered in a basket through an opening in the wall, Saul slipped past the guarded gates and made for Jerusalem, where the disciples were at first all afraid of him.

Which city in Cilicia did Paul name as his birthplace when he addressed the Jerusalem crowd from the barracks steps?

Tarsus was 'no ordinary city', as Paul had just told the garrison commander, yet he added that he was brought up in Jerusalem and trained in the law there.

What did a voice tell Peter to do with the animals, reptiles and birds shown to him in his vision at Joppa?

'Kill and eat' appalled Peter, who protested that he had never eaten anything impure. The voice told him not to call impure what God had made clean.

What status, which Paul held from birth, alarmed the Jerusalem commander who was about to have him interrogated?

Roman citizenship shielded Paul from being whipped without a trial, and the commander admitted he had paid a lot of money to obtain his own.

What did the islanders who first took the shipwrecked Paul for a murderer end up calling him instead?

A god was their verdict after they had waited a long time, expecting Paul to swell up or suddenly fall dead, and saw nothing unusual happen to him.

What did the witnesses at the first Christian martyr's stoning lay at the feet of a young man named Saul?

Their coats were left with Saul, who approved of the killing and soon went from house to house dragging believers off to prison.

Which rite did visitors from Judea insist Gentile believers needed to be saved, prompting the Jerusalem council?

Circumcision was the demand that sent Paul and Barnabas up to Jerusalem, where the apostles and elders decided not to burden Gentile converts with it.

What ability did a slave girl in Philippi lose when Paul ordered a spirit out of her, ending her owners' income?

Fortune-telling had earned her owners a great deal of money, so they hauled Paul before the magistrates, who had him beaten and thrown into prison.

To which reader, greeted by name in the book's first verse, does the author of Acts say he wrote a 'former book'?

Theophilus is also hailed as 'most excellent' at the opening of one of the Gospels, which is how readers know that Acts is the second volume of a two-part work.

From which hill, 'a Sabbath day's walk from the city', did the apostles return to Jerusalem after the ascension?

Mount of Olives was near enough to Jerusalem to be walked on a Sabbath, and once back the apostles went upstairs to the room where they were staying and joined in prayer.

Whose tomb did Peter say 'is here to this day' when arguing in Acts 2 that a psalm foretold the resurrection?

David died and was buried, Peter reasoned, so the psalmist's words about not being abandoned to the realm of the dead had to be about the Messiah.

What did Peter tell a Jerusalem crowd to do when, 'cut to the heart', they asked what they should do?

'Repent and be baptized' came with a promise of forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and about three thousand people accepted it that day.

In Peter's defence before the rulers in Acts 4, Jesus is 'the stone you builders rejected' that became what?

The cornerstone is an image Peter borrowed from Psalm 118, and he followed it by declaring that there is no other name under heaven by which people must be saved.

What does the name Barnabas mean, which the apostles gave a Levite called Joseph who sold a field for the church?

Son of encouragement fitted Barnabas: he laid the money from his field at the apostles' feet, and later vouched for the newly converted Saul when the disciples feared him.

Which Old Testament figure does the speech in Acts 7 call 'no ordinary child' and 'powerful in speech and action'?

Moses is 'powerful in speech' in this telling, a contrast with Exodus, where he protests to God that he is slow of speech and tongue.

What disaster did a visiting prophet predict 'over the entire Roman world', prompting a relief gift for Judea?

A severe famine was foretold, so the disciples each gave what they could afford and sent the gift to the elders in Judea by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

After which festival did Herod mean to bring the arrested Peter out for public trial, in Acts 12?

Passover was under way, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread, so Herod held Peter under four squads of four soldiers each until it was over.

What 'opened for them by itself' as an angel led Peter past two sets of guards and out of Herod's prison?

The iron gate led out to the city, and Peter, who thought he was seeing a vision, found himself alone one street later when the angel left him.

What did Paul and Barnabas shake off their feet as a warning to those who expelled them, before going to Iconium?

The dust was a pointed farewell: Jesus had told his disciples to shake it from their feet on leaving any town that would not welcome them.

What was the Philippian jailer about to do with his drawn sword when Paul shouted 'We are all here!'?

He meant to take his own life, thinking the prisoners had escaped. Minutes later he was asking Paul what he must do to be saved, and he was baptised that night with his household.

What was Athens 'full of', greatly distressing Paul while he waited there for his travelling companions?

Idols on every side drove Paul to reason daily in the marketplace with whoever happened to be there, which is how the city's thinkers came to hear of him.

What did Paul have done at Cenchreae 'because of a vow he had taken', just before sailing for Syria?

His hair cut off is all Acts reveals about the vow. Paul then sailed with Priscilla and Aquila as far as Ephesus, where he left the couple behind.

What did former sorcerers in Ephesus burn publicly, a haul valued at fifty thousand drachmas?

Their scrolls went up in flames in public, and since a drachma was a silver coin worth about a day's wages, the bonfire was a ruinously costly one.

Which official quieted the rioting crowd in the theatre at Ephesus, warning of a charge over the commotion?

The city clerk reminded the crowd that the courts were open and that there were proconsuls to hear any grievance, then dismissed the assembly.

At which port did Paul summon the elders of the Ephesian church for his farewell, having chosen to sail past their city?

Miletus was as close as Paul came, because he was hurrying to reach Jerusalem. The elders wept, embraced and kissed him, grieved that they would never see his face again.

What did the four unmarried daughters of Philip the evangelist do, as noted when Paul stayed at his house in Caesarea?

Prophesied is the single detail given about them. Their father, one of the Seven, had reached Caesarea years earlier after preaching in all the towns along his way.

Which centurion of the Imperial Regiment guarded Paul on the voyage to Italy and later spared the prisoners' lives?

Julius let Paul visit friends ashore at Sidon, and after the wreck he stopped his soldiers killing the prisoners because he wanted to spare Paul's life.

Off which island did Paul's ship shelter at Fair Havens before most aboard decided to sail on for a better harbour?

Crete had a better winter harbour at Phoenix, so the centurion trusted the pilot and the ship's owner over Paul's warning and put to sea in a gentle south wind.

What did the soldiers guarding Paul cut loose from the ship on the fourteenth night of the storm, acting on his warning?

The lifeboat was being let down by sailors who pretended they were going to set anchors from the bow, and Paul told the centurion that nobody could be saved unless they stayed.

What cargo did the crew of Paul's storm-battered ship throw into the sea once everyone aboard had eaten their fill?

Grain went into the sea to lighten the ship, a vessel from Alexandria bound for Italy, just after Paul had persuaded everyone aboard to eat a proper meal.

Which lawyer did the high priest bring to Caesarea to argue the case against Paul, calling him 'a troublemaker'?

Tertullus opened by flattering the governor for a long period of peace, then branded Paul a ringleader of the Nazarene sect who stirred up riots everywhere.

Which woman is named among the Athenians who believed after Paul spoke to the city's council about the resurrection?

Damaris is one of only two converts Acts names in Athens. Some of Paul's hearers sneered at talk of the dead rising, while others asked to hear him again.

Which province did Paul's party try to enter from the border of Mysia, only for 'the Spirit of Jesus' to prevent it?

Bithynia stayed closed to them, so they went down to the coast at Troas instead, where a vision in the night sent the mission across the sea.

Where outside the city gate of Philippi did Paul's party go on the Sabbath, expecting to find a place of prayer?

By the river they sat down and spoke to the women gathered there, and one of them, a dealer in cloth, became a believer and opened her home to the travellers.

What did a priest of Zeus bring to the city gates so that a crowd could offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas?

Bulls and wreaths were ready for sacrifice when the two men tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, urging them to turn from such worthless things to the living God.

What did Peter tell the centurion who fell at his feet in reverence when they met at Caesarea?

'I am only a man myself,' said Peter, who then walked in to find the officer's relatives and close friends gathered and waiting to hear him.

In which part of the Jerusalem temple did all the believers use to meet together in the early chapters of Acts?

Solomon's Colonnade was also where an astonished crowd came running to Peter and John after a healing at the temple, handing Peter the audience for another sermon.

Which letter of Paul comes directly after Acts in the standard order of the New Testament?

Romans, the longest of the letters that bear Paul's name, follows at once, a neat handover since Acts closes with Paul preaching in Rome.

What did the Sanhedrin take note of about Peter and John, astonished at the courage of 'unschooled, ordinary men'?

They had been with Jesus, the council realised, and with the healed man standing right there beside the pair there was nothing it could say in reply.

What happened to the place where the Jerusalem believers were meeting after they prayed for boldness in Acts 4?

It was shaken, and everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly, the very thing they had just prayed for.

How did Saul, unable to see after the light on the road, complete the last stretch of his journey into Damascus?

Led by the hand by his travelling companions, the man who had set out to arrest believers arrived helpless and stayed sightless for three days.

In which city did Paul and Barnabas meet the proconsul Sergius Paulus after crossing the whole island from Salamis?

Paphos is where the proconsul, 'an intelligent man', sent for the two missionaries because he wanted to hear the word of God.

Which synagogue leader did a crowd beat in front of the proconsul in Corinth, who 'showed no concern whatever'?

Sosthenes took the beating moments after the case against Paul had been thrown out of court, and the proconsul simply let it happen.

What punishment did the Sanhedrin give the apostles in Acts 5 before letting them go, 'rejoicing' at the disgrace?

A flogging and an order to stop speaking in the name of Jesus changed nothing: day after day the apostles never stopped proclaiming the good news.

What rival title did a Thessalonian mob accuse believers of giving Jesus, in defiance of the emperor's decrees?

A king was the charge, 'another king, one called Jesus', and it threw the crowd and the city officials into turmoil until the accused believers posted bond.

What did Paul exempt when he prayed that his royal audience at Caesarea might all become what he was?

His chains were the one thing Paul would not wish on his hearers, and the court rose agreeing that he was doing nothing that deserved death or imprisonment.

Over what period, in the opening verses of Acts, did the risen Jesus appear to the apostles before being taken up?

Forty days of appearances, with 'many convincing proofs' that he was alive, came before the ascension, and Jesus spent them speaking about the kingdom of God.

From which region did the amazed Jerusalem crowd in Acts 2 say all the speakers came, as each heard his own language?

Galilee was the speakers' home, as the crowd could tell, yet visitors from Parthia to Rome each heard the wonders of God declared in their native language.