'The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.' The pairing of 'angel of the Lord' with 'delivers' matches Peter's two-fold language exactly in theme. Moderate volume, high coherence with the rescue motif.

Yahweh’s angel encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.


An angel rouses the sleeping prophet Elijah by touch — 'he touched him, and said, Arise' — paralleling the angel who 'struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, Stand up quickly.' Shared scene-grammar of angelic touch-and-rouse; verbal volume modest.

He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!” He looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. Yahweh’s angel came again the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.”


Jethro blesses the LORD who 'delivered you out of the hand of Pharaoh... out of the hand of the Egyptians.' Peter's 'delivered me out of the hand of Herod' reuses the classic exodus 'out of the hand of [the king]' deliverance idiom, reinforcing the Passover framing.

Moses told his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardships that had come on them on the way, and how Yahweh delivered them. Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which Yahweh had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. Jethro said, “Blessed be Yahweh, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who has […]


'The LORD looses the prisoners... opens the eyes of the blind.' Part of the cluster of psalmic prisoner-release imagery (with Ps 107, 116) reinforcing the recurrence test for divine liberation of the bound.

who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners. Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous.


'You have loosed my bonds.' Faint echo within the prisoner-release cluster; low volume, offered maximally.

Yahweh, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid. You have freed me from my chains.


The pillar of fire that 'gave them light' to go by night faintly anticipates the 'light shone in the cell' guiding Peter's nighttime departure — a light-by-night deliverance motif keyed to the exodus.

Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night:


Angelic intervention against an intruder in the temple treasury exemplifies the deuterocanonical angelic-rescue/judgment type that frames Acts 12 as a whole; faint, offered for recurrence.

But when he was already present there with his guards near the treasury, the Soverign of spirits and of all authority caused a great apparition, so that all that had presumed to come in with him, stricken with dismay at the power of God, fainted and were sore afraid. For there was seen by them a horse with a terrible rider upon him, and adorned with beautiful trappings, and he rushed fiercely and struck at Heliodorus with his forefeet, and it seemed that […]


The community's reaction 'It is his angel' presupposes a Second-Temple guardian-angel belief whose narrative roots include Raphael accompanying Tobias. No verbal borrowing, but a conceptual background echo for the angel-as-double notion.

He went to seek a man, and found Raphael who was an angel; and he didn’t know it. He said to him, “Can I go with you to Rages of Media? Do you know those places well?” The angel said to him, “I will go with you. I know the way well. I have lodged with our brother Gabael.” Tobias said to him, “Wait for me, and I will tell my father.” He said to him, “Go, and don’t wait. And he went in and said to his father, “Behold, I have found someone who will go with […]


The motif of disbelief and laughter/incredulity at an unexpected, joyful announcement (Sarah at the door of the tent) faintly mirrors the gathered believers calling Rhoda 'crazy' and refusing to credit the good news. Very faint; offered maximally.

Yahweh appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. I will […]


The reversal whereby those who guarded/accused the rescued righteous man are themselves put to death parallels Darius casting Daniel's accusers to the lions after his deliverance. The guards executed in Herod's place reflect the same ironic-substitution pattern.

The king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions mauled them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.


After the Passover/exodus deliverance, the pursuing soldiers perish; the death of Herod's squads following Peter's escape faintly continues the exodus typology (deliverance of the people, destruction of the captor's forces).

The waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even all Pharaoh’s army that went in after them into the sea. There remained not so much as one of them.


The death of the proud persecutor Antiochus Epiphanes — struck by God, his body breeding worms, rotting while still alive, finally acknowledging he is mortal not divine — is the closest model for Herod 'eaten by worms' for failing to 'give God the glory.' Shared distinctive elements (proud king, worm-affliction, divine smiting, refusal/recognition of mortality) give high volume and coherence.

But the All-seeing Lord, the God of Israel, struck him with a fatal and invisible stroke; and as soon as he had ceased speaking this word, an incurable pain of the bowels seized him, and bitter torments of the inner parts; and that most justly, for he had tormented other men’s bowels with many and strange sufferings. But he in no wise ceased from his rude insolence; nay, still more was he filled with arrogancy, breathing fire in his passion against the […]


Set precisely against Tyre and Sidon, this oracle condemns the prince of Tyre who said 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of God,' declaring he is a man and not a god, struck dead by judgment. The crowd's 'voice of a god, and not of a man!' and Herod's instant death make this a pointed, geographically apt allusion (Tyre/Sidon supply context, 12:20).

Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God— behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you; by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your […]


Nebuchadnezzar's self-glorifying speech ('Is not this great Babylon, which I have built...') is immediately answered by a voice from heaven and divine humbling. The pattern of a king's prideful public oration met by sudden God-sent affliction for failing to honor God strongly parallels Herod's throne speech and stroke.

The king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from the sky, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you. You shall be driven from men; and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field. You shall be made to eat grass as oxen. Seven times shall […]


Belshazzar is condemned because he 'lifted up himself' and did not glorify 'the God in whose hand your breath is.' The explicit charge against Herod — 'he didn't give God the glory' — matches Daniel's indictment of the king who withholds glory from God.

But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him: and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it […]


The taunt over the fallen king of Babylon: 'the maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you.' The worm-judgment on a king who exalted himself 'above the stars of God' resonates with Herod's worm-eaten death for usurping divine honors.

Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.


'The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgment; he will send fire and worms into their flesh.' Deuterocanonical worm-and-fire judgment language for the enemies of God supports the recurrence of the worm-death motif as divine punishment.

“Woe to the nations who rise up against my race! The Lord Almighty will take vengeance on them in the day of judgement, to put fire and worms in their flesh; and they will weep and feel their pain forever.”


'I am the LORD... my glory I will not give to another.' Undergirds the explicit rationale 'he didn't give God the glory'; God's jealousy for his glory is the principle Herod violates by accepting acclamation as a god.

“I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.


'Why is earth and ashes proud?'... God 'casts down the thrones of rulers, and sets up the meek' and afflicts the proud — a wisdom meditation on the downfall of arrogant kings that thematically frames Herod's enthroned pride and sudden fall.

Why is earth and ashes proud? Because in his life he has cast away his bowels. It is a long disease; the physician mocketh: And he is a king today, and tomorrow he will die. For when a man is dead, He will inherit creeping things, and beasts, and worms. It is the beginning of pride when a man departs from the Lord; And his heart is departed from him that made him. For the beginning of pride is sin; And he that keeps it will pour forth abomination. For […]


Tyre's dependence on Israelite/royal grain supply (Hiram's people fed from Solomon's stores) supplies the background to 'their country depended on the king's country for food' (12:20). A historical-cultural echo rather than a textual citation.

My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and you shall receive them. You shall accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.” So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire. Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty […]


Specifically: Antiochus 'thought he could command the waves of the sea... and weigh the high mountains in a balance' yet 'worms swarmed out of his body' and his flesh decayed. The juxtaposition of god-like presumption with worm-infested collapse is the sharpest single parallel to Herod's fate and may be cited distinctly within the 2 Macc 9 unit.

And he that but now supposed himself to have the waves of the sea at his bidding, so vainglorious was he beyond the condition of a man, and that thought to weigh the heights of the mountains in a balance, was now brought to the ground and carried in a litter, showing to all that the power was manifestly God’s; so that out of the body of the impious man worms swarmed, and while he was still living in anguish and pains, his flesh fell off, and by reason of […]


'The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied' — set immediately after Pharaoh's failed oppression, exactly as 'the word of God grew and multiplied' caps Herod's failed persecution. The exodus-typology of Acts 12 makes this growth-after-tyrant verbal echo deliberate.

The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.


The creation mandate 'be fruitful and multiply' supplies the underlying 'grow and multiply' diction that Luke applies to the word of God, personifying it as a living, increasing entity.

God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”


God's word that goes forth and does not return empty but accomplishes and prospers undergirds the notion of the 'word of God' itself growing and multiplying as an active force; thematic rather than verbal.

For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing I sent it to do.


The laying on of hands to set apart Barnabas and Saul for service echoes the Levitical rite where Israel lays hands on the Levites to consecrate them for the Lord's work. Verbal overlap is slight (a shared gesture rather than wording), but the thematic coherence of commissioning for sacred service is strong. Plausibility high given Luke's pervasive use of Pentateuchal cultic practice.

You shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,


Moses lays hands on Joshua to commission him for a divinely appointed task before the assembly, the closest narrative analogue to commissioning two leaders by hand-laying after the Spirit designates them. Recurrence of the hand-laying-for-mission motif strengthens the link, though no verbal citation.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him. Set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight. You shall give authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before Yahweh. At his word they shall go out, and at his […]


Fasting as preparation for receiving divine direction recalls Moses' wilderness fasting before God. Faint, generic; included for maximal coverage.

When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.


Elymas the magos/false prophet embodies precisely the sorcery and divination Deuteronomy forbids in Israel; Luke frames the confrontation as the true word of God against the prohibited mantic arts. Thematic coherence high, verbal overlap conceptual rather than lexical.

There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.


The 'false prophet' (pseudoprophetes) who seeks to turn the proconsul aside from the faith answers to the Deuteronomic false prophet who tries to seduce Israel away from the Lord; the verb 'turn aside' resonates with Deut 13's leading astray.

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises in your midst you, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods” (which you have not known) “and let us serve them”; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you, to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul. […]


Paul's charge of 'perverting the straight ways of the Lord' inverts Hosea's closing maxim that 'the ways of the LORD are right (straight)' and the righteous walk in them while transgressors stumble. The straight-ways imagery is a recognizable prophetic idiom; volume moderate.

Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them.


'He who perverts his ways will be found out' supplies the wisdom background for condemning one who makes crooked the straight paths of the Lord. Faint, idiomatic.

He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.


Elymas struck with mist and darkness, groping for someone to lead him, closely parallels the men of Sodom struck with blindness so they could not find the door, a divine judgment-blinding. Strong narrative recurrence with 2 Kings 6 below.

They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.


Elisha prays and the Aramean army is struck blind by the prophet's word, the OT type for a man of God blinding an enemy of the Lord's purpose; the prophet-induced judicial blindness is the operative pattern behind Paul's act.

When they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.


The covenant curse of blindness, groping at noonday as the blind grope in darkness, supplies the language of Elymas groping for a guide. Thematic coherence with judgment-blinding; verbal echo of groping.

Yahweh will strike you with madness, with blindness, and with astonishment of heart. You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.


'The hand of the Lord is upon you' echoes the recurring Exodus formula of the LORD's hand falling in judgment (e.g., upon Pharaoh's livestock and Egypt). A stock OT idiom for divine striking; volume low.

behold, the hand of Yahweh is on your livestock which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herds, and on the flocks with a very grievous pestilence.


'The hand of the LORD was heavy' upon the Philistines is another instance of the judgment-hand idiom behind 'the hand of the Lord is on you.' Generic, included for breadth.

But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders.


The synagogue pattern of reading the Law and the Prophets followed by exhortation reflects the post-exilic public reading of the Law with exposition; Luke's scene presupposes this liturgical inheritance. Background rather than citation.

All the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate; and they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Yahweh had commanded to Israel. Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. He read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early […]


Paul's opening summons, 'Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen,' echoes the Asaphite call to the people to give ear, the conventional opening of a historical recital (as the sermon then becomes). Faint formulaic resonance.

Hear my teaching, my people. Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.


'The God of this people Israel chose our fathers' restates Deuteronomy's foundational election theology, that the LORD set his love on and chose the patriarchs and their seed. Strong thematic coherence and clear conceptual borrowing opening the historical resume.

For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, […]


'The LORD set his affection on your fathers to love them and chose their descendants' is a near-synonymous parallel to the election of the fathers; reinforces the choosing language. Recurrence strengthens the Deuteronomic source pool.

Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples, as at this day.


Deliverance from Egypt 'with a strong hand' undergirds Paul's 'with uplifted arm he led them out.' The Exodus deliverance formula is unmistakable here.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.”


'I will redeem you with an outstretched arm' supplies the exact 'uplifted/high arm' (brachion hypselos) by which God led Israel out of Egypt. High-volume verbal borrowing of a fixed Exodus formula.

Therefore tell the children of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments:


God's taking a nation out of Egypt 'by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and great terrors' is the canonical Deuteronomic exodus formula behind 'with uplifted arm he led them out.' Reinforces Exod 6:6.

Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?


'He made the people great (exalted them) during their stay in Egypt' echoes the multiplication of Israel in Egypt, who grew exceedingly numerous. Conceptual; the LXX verb differs.

The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.


Israel sojourning in Egypt where 'the LORD made his people very fruitful, and made them stronger than their foes' closely matches 'exalted the people during their stay as aliens in Egypt.' This psalm is itself a historical recital paralleling Paul's, raising recurrence.

Israel also came into Egypt. Jacob lived in the land of Ham. He increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries.


'The forty years in the wilderness' draws on the canonical forty-year wandering during which Israel ate manna. Stock chronological datum but verbally precise.

The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.


The forty years in the wilderness as the span of God's bearing with a rebellious generation supplies both the number and the note of divine forbearance ('he put up with them'). Strong thematic coherence.

Your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your prostitution, until your dead bodies are consumed in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you will bear your iniquities, even forty years, and you will know my alienation.’


'The LORD your God carried (bore) you as a father carries his son' lies behind the well-attested variant 'he bore/nursed them' for forty years; even in the 'put up with them' reading, Deut 1:31's wilderness-forbearance is the matrix. Textual-critical note: etropophoresen vs etrophophoresen.

and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place.”


'For forty years I loathed that generation' supplies the forty-years-plus-divine-toleration motif behind God 'putting up with them' in the wilderness. Recurrence with Numbers 14.

Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”


'When he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan' directly quotes the Deuteronomic catalogue of the 'seven nations greater and mightier than you' the LORD casts out before Israel. Distinctive numeral 'seven nations' is verbatim.

When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you;


Joshua's recital of the nations of Canaan delivered into Israel's hand and the land given as inheritance parallels Paul's compression; Josh 24 is itself a covenant historical resume, raising recurrence.

“‘You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.


'He gave them their land for an inheritance' restates the apportioning of Canaan as inheritance by lot. Thematic coherence high; standard conquest language.

These are the inheritances which the children of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel, distributed to them, by the lot of their inheritance, as Yahweh commanded by Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe.


The land sworn to the fathers given for possession underlies 'he gave them their land for an inheritance.' Generic land-gift formula.

Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.’”


'He drove out nations before them and apportioned them for an inheritance' compresses conquest-plus-inheritance exactly as Paul does, within another historical psalm. Recurrence reinforces.

He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.


'After that he gave them judges' directly summarizes the book of Judges' refrain that the LORD raised up judges to deliver Israel. Clear thematic and verbal correspondence.

Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.


'until Samuel the prophet' fixes the transition point at Samuel, recognized from Dan to Beersheba as a prophet of the LORD, the last of the judges. Distinctive named figure.

All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Yahweh.


'Then they asked for a king' directly recalls Israel's demand to Samuel, 'appoint a king to judge us like all the nations.' Strong verbal and narrative correspondence.

and they said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”


'Here is the king you have chosen, for whom you asked' reinforces the request-for-a-king motif. Recurrence within the same Samuel narrative.

Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you have asked for: and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you.


Saul son of Kish 'of the tribe of Benjamin' is drawn from the selection-by-lot narrative naming Saul of the tribe of Benjamin and the family of Kish. Distinctive named details.

He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families; and the family of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son of Kish was taken: but when they sought him, he could not be found.


The introduction of Kish the Benjamite and his son Saul, a choice young man, supplies the 'Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin.' Reinforces 10:21.

Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. He had a son, whose name was Saul, an impressive young man; and there was not among the children of Israel a better person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.


'When he had removed him' alludes to the LORD's rejection of Saul as king ('you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you from being king'). Thematic coherence high.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected Yahweh’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.”


God's word to Samuel, 'I have rejected Saul... I have provided for myself a king,' bridges the removal of Saul and the raising up of David. Reinforces the removal-then-David sequence.

Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”


'He raised up David to be their king' draws on the anointing of David at Bethlehem, whom the LORD designates and Samuel anoints. Distinctive narrative behind the David accession.

He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on. Yahweh said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.


'A man after my own heart, who will do all my will' quotes Samuel's verdict to Saul that the LORD has sought out 'a man after his own heart' to be ruler. The 'man after my heart' phrase is verbatim; this is the controlling source of the composite citation.

But now your kingdom shall not continue. Yahweh has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept that which Yahweh commanded you.”


'I have found David my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him' supplies the opening clause 'I have found David,' fused with 1 Sam 13:14 into Paul's composite testimony. Verbal borrowing of 'I have found David.'

I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil,


'The LORD looks on the heart' undergirds the 'man after my heart' verdict, reinforcing the heart-language of David's election. Conceptual support for the composite quotation.

But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for I see not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”


'who will do all my will/pleasure' resembles the LORD's word that Cyrus 'shall fulfill all my purpose'; some see the third clause of Paul's composite drawn from this anointed-agent idiom. Faint and contested.

Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure,’ even saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built;’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”


'From this man's seed God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise' rests on the Davidic covenant promise that God will raise up David's seed after him and establish his kingdom. The promise-to-David seed theology is the backbone of the verse.

When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.


'The LORD swore to David... one of the fruit of your body I will set on your throne' supplies the sworn promise of a descendant, reinforcing the seed-of-David savior. Recurrence with 2 Sam 7.

Yahweh has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: “I will set the fruit of your body on your throne.


The shoot from the stump of Jesse, a messianic seed of David, contributes to the seed-of-David savior expectation. Conceptual messianic background.

A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.


John's preparatory preaching before the Coming One echoes the messenger sent ahead to prepare the way of the Lord. Faint; the forerunner motif is operative.

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.


John's preparatory role and self-effacement before the one who comes after resonate with the wilderness voice preparing the way of the LORD. Background to the Baptist tradition rather than a citation here.

The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.


Address to 'children of the stock of Abraham' echoes the covenant designation 'offspring of Abraham his servant,' situating the hearers within the elect line. Idiomatic.

you seed of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.


'Children of the stock of Abraham' rests on the covenant with Abraham and his seed; the word of salvation comes first to the covenant heirs. Generic covenant background.

I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.


That they 'found no cause for death' yet had him killed and 'laid in a tomb' resonates with the Servant who had done no violence yet was assigned a grave; the innocence-then-burial pattern is the Servant Song's. Thematic coherence medium-high.

They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.


'They took him down from the tree' draws on the law that a man hanged on a tree must be taken down the same day, a text Luke and Paul repeatedly attach to the crucifixion. Distinctive 'tree' (xylon) language and the taking-down detail.

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree; his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.


The condemnation and execution of the innocent one with the connivance of rulers faintly recalls the lament psalm of the suffering righteous appropriated for the passion. Contested, low volume here.

For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them. They cast lots for my clothing.


'The promise made to the fathers' includes the Abrahamic blessing-to-the-nations promise now declared fulfilled. Background to the promise theology of the verse.

I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”


The 'promise made to the fathers' that God has fulfilled by raising Jesus centers on the Davidic covenant, especially 'I will be his father and he shall be my son,' which dovetails with the Ps 2 citation. Reinforces the father-son sonship theme.

When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;


'You are my Son; today I have begotten you' is quoted verbatim as the second-psalm proof that God raised up Jesus. Explicit formula citation ('as it is written in the second psalm'); maximal volume.

I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father.


'I will give you the holy and sure blessings/mercies of David' (ta hosia Dauid ta pista) is quoted to prove the resurrection-incorruption, linking the everlasting covenant mercies promised to David to the risen Christ. Explicit LXX citation.

Turn your ear, and come to me; hear, and your soul shall live: and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.


'You will not allow your Holy One to see corruption/decay' is quoted ('in another psalm') as the climactic resurrection proof-text, then argued to apply to Jesus and not David. Verbatim LXX quotation; the linchpin of the resurrection argument.

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.


'David... fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw decay' draws on the notice that David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David, grounding Paul's argument that David did see corruption. Distinctive 'slept with his fathers' idiom.

David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.


The sworn covenant with David ('I will establish your seed forever') reinforces the 'sure mercies of David' applied to the imperishable risen one. Recurrence with Isa 55:3 covenant language.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David, my servant, ‘I will establish your seed forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’” Selah.


'Everyone who believes is justified' faintly recalls the Servant who 'shall make many to be accounted righteous,' the OT seed of justification language. Conceptual, contested.

After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light and be satisfied. My righteous servant will justify many by the knowledge of himself; and he will bear their iniquities.


'Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work you will not believe though one declares it' is quoted verbatim (LXX, 'scoffers/despisers') as the prophetic warning closing the sermon. Explicit citation, maximal volume.

“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.

Behold, ye despisers, and look, and wonder marvelously, and vanish: for I work a work in your days, which ye will in no wise believe, though a man declare it to you.


'I have set you as a light for the Gentiles, that you should bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth' is quoted verbatim (LXX) as the Lord's commission justifying the turn to the Gentiles. Explicit Servant-Song citation; maximal volume.

yes, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”


'A light for the Gentiles' also stands in the first Servant Song ('I will give you... for a light to the nations'), reinforcing the light-to-the-nations commission Paul cites. Recurrence with Isa 49:6.

“I, Yahweh, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and make you a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations;


The Jews 'filled with jealousy' contradicting the word, leading to the turn toward the Gentiles, faintly enacts the Song of Moses' principle that God provokes Israel to jealousy by a non-people, a motif Paul develops elsewhere. Contested here.

They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.


Shaking off the dust of the feet against the city as a sign-act of rejection has loose kinship with prophetic shaking-out gestures of repudiation (Nehemiah shaking out his lap against covenant-breakers). Very faint; the gesture is more dominical instruction than OT citation.

Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise; even thus be he shaken out, and emptied.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh. The people did according to this promise.


The Lord 'testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands' (v3). The pair 'signs and wonders' (sēmeia kai terata) is the fixed Septuagintal idiom for the Exodus deliverance, where the Lord 'showed signs and wonders' against Egypt. Thematic Coherence is strong (divine attestation of the messenger); Volume rests on the set two-word phrase. Plausibility high: Luke saturates Acts with Exodus-shaped signs-and-wonders language.

and Yahweh showed great and awesome signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;


Reinforces the 'signs and wonders' idiom by tying it specifically to a commissioned human agent (Moses 'whom the Lord sent to do all the signs and wonders'), paralleling miracles done 'by their hands.' Recurrence within the Pentateuch supports the topos; Volume is faint on its own. Contested as a distinct source rather than part of the broader Exodus signs-and-wonders cluster.

in all the signs and the wonders, which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,


The plot to 'mistreat and stone them' (v5) presupposes the Torah's mode of execution by stoning, carried out by the community and its rulers. Volume low (no verbal borrowing), but the legal practice underlies the narrative threat. Contested: the link is conceptual to the institution of stoning rather than to this verse specifically.

“Bring out of the camp him who cursed; and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.


The man 'a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked' is healed and 'leaped up and walked' (vv8-10). Isaiah's eschatological promise, 'then shall the lame man leap (halletai) as a hart,' supplies the rare verb and the lame-restored motif. Volume high (distinctive 'leap' for a healed lame man); Thematic Coherence strong (the dawning age of restoration enacted among the nations); Recurrence good (Isa 35 is a programmatic restoration text echoed across Luke-Acts).

Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.


Paul's command 'Stand upright on your feet!' (v10) echoes the prophetic summons 'Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak with you.' Volume rests on the shared imperative to stand on the feet; Thematic Coherence moderate (a word of power that raises a prostrate/incapable person). Contested whether Luke intends a prophetic-call resonance or merely a healing command.

He said to me, Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.


The crowd cries 'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men' and the priest of Zeus prepares oxen and garlands (vv11-13). The psalm's mockery of idols 'the work of men's hands' frames the scene's irony: the living agents of God are taken for the lifeless gods of the nations. Volume nil (no verbal contact); the link is typological-thematic, exposing pagan idolatry. Contested as an intended echo.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.


The summons to turn to 'the living God, who made the sky and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them' (v15) reproduces the Sabbath-commandment formula 'the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them.' Volume very high (the full four-membered creation list verbatim); Thematic Coherence strong (Creator vs. the 'vain things' of idolatry). The clearest scriptural backbone of the Lystra speech.

for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.


Parallel source for v15: the Lord 'who made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them,' here explicitly tied to the 'living' God who keeps faith and provides. Volume very high (same creation catalogue); Thematic Coherence strong (God as faithful provider, matching v17's rains and food). Likely conflated with Exod 20:11 in the speech's monotheistic appeal.

who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;


Ezra's prayer, 'You are the Lord alone; you have made heaven... the earth... the seas, and all that is in them, and you preserve them all,' is the great post-exilic monotheistic confession built on the same creation list and joined to providential preservation, both present in vv15-17. Volume moderate (creation catalogue plus preservation); Recurrence supports the formula's currency in Second Temple worship.

You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.


'The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land' undergirds v15's pairing of sea and earth as the Creator's work and stands behind the call to worship the true God rather than idols. Volume moderate; Thematic Coherence high (creation as ground for worship, against false gods).

The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land.


'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth' is the headwater of the heaven-and-earth creation language deployed in v15. Volume moderate (foundational phrasing) but diffuse, since the speech follows the fuller Exod/Ps liturgical lists rather than Genesis directly. Recurrence very high across Scripture.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


The exhortation to 'turn from these vain things' (mataia, v15) draws on the prophetic-Pentateuchal label for idols as 'vanities' that 'provoked me with their vanities/no-gods.' Volume moderate (mataia is the LXX term for idols); Thematic Coherence strong (idols as empty nothings opposed to the living God). Contested only as to which idol-vanity text is primary.


'Are there any among the vanities (idols) of the nations that can cause rain? ... it is you, O Lord our God,' directly ties the 'vain things' of v15 to the rain-giving of v17: the nations' idols cannot give rain, but the living God does. Volume moderate but precise (vanities + rain), making this an unusually apt double-link. Thematic Coherence very high.

Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? or can the sky give showers? Aren’t you he, Yahweh our God? therefore we will wait for you; for you have made all these things.


'Those who regard vain idols (mataia) forsake their own mercy' adds Recurrence to the 'vain things' (v15) idol-vocabulary in a Gentile setting (Nineveh/sailors), apt to a speech to pagans. Volume faint (single shared term). Contested as a discrete source within the broad idol-vanity cluster.

Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.


'The living God' (v15) is a fixed OT epithet distinguishing the true God from idols; Deut 5:26 ('the voice of the living God') is a Pentateuchal anchor. Volume moderate (set title); Thematic Coherence high (living God vs. dead idols, the speech's thesis). Recurrence very high across the OT.

For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?


'who in the generations gone by allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways' (v16) echoes God giving Israel 'up to their own hearts' lusts, and they walked in their own counsels.' Volume moderate (the idiom of being let to walk in one's own ways); Thematic Coherence strong (divine forbearance/handing-over of the nations). Contested between this and the Deut 32 nations-allotment tradition.

So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.


'he... gave you rains from the sky and fruitful seasons' (v17) reflects the covenant promise 'I will give the rain of your land in its season, the early and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain.' Volume high (rain given in due season → harvest); Thematic Coherence strong (God's good gifts as witness). A core text for the natural-revelation argument.

that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.


'I will give you rain in its season, and the land shall yield its produce' parallels the rains and 'fruitful seasons' of v17. Volume moderate; Recurrence reinforces the Pentateuchal rain-blessing topos alongside Deut 11:14.

then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.


'Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the early and the latter, in its season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of the harvest' is the closest prophetic parallel to v17's rains and 'fruitful seasons.' Volume high (rain in season + fixed harvest seasons); Thematic Coherence strong (creation's seasons as a witness summoning to fear/turn to God).

Neither do they say in their heart, ‘Let us now fear Yahweh our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season; who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest.’


The psalm of God visiting the earth with rain, enriching it, crowning the year with bounty so the valleys 'shout for joy,' matches v17's rains, fruitful seasons, and resulting 'food and gladness.' Volume moderate (rain → fertility → joy sequence); Thematic Coherence high (providence evoking gladness).

You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop. You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance. The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness. The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed […]


'who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains' echoes v17's rains-from-heaven-producing-food. Volume moderate; Recurrence supports the providence-praise tradition.

who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.


God brings forth food from the earth and 'wine that gladdens the heart of man... and bread that strengthens man's heart' closely matches v17's 'filling our hearts with food and gladness.' Volume moderate-to-high (food + gladness of heart); Thematic Coherence strong (creation's provision as joy-giving witness).

He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth: wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.


'You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time their grain and wine increased' overlaps v17's 'filling our hearts with... gladness' linked to harvest abundance. Volume faint (gladness in the heart + grain/wine); contested as distinct from Ps 104.

You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their grain and their new wine are increased.


'who gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields' adds Recurrence to the rain-as-divine-gift motif of v17. Volume faint (general statement); contested as an intended source.

who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;


Paul is stoned and 'dragged out of the city' (v19), reflecting the Torah practice of taking the condemned 'outside the camp' to be stoned. Volume moderate (stoning + expulsion from the community space); Thematic Coherence moderate (Paul suffers the prophet's/martyr's fate at the city's edge). Contested between this and Lev 24.

Yahweh said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.” All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as Yahweh commanded Moses.


The stoning of Paul, left for dead yet rising (vv19-20), stands in the typological line of God's messengers stoned for their witness, exemplified by Zechariah son of Jehoiada, stoned 'in the court of the house of the Lord.' Volume nil verbally; the link is the figural pattern of the persecuted prophet. Plausibility good given Luke's persecuted-witness theme; contested as an intended allusion.

They conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of Yahweh’s house.


'Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all' fits Paul's stoning and immediate rising (vv19-20), anticipating the explicit 'many afflictions' of v22. Volume faint; contested as a deliberate echo here rather than a general providence motif.

Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.


'When they had appointed elders for them in every assembly' (v23) reflects the foundational appointment of elders to share leadership of God's people, where Moses gathers seventy elders to bear the burden with him. Volume moderate (institution of elders for the community); Thematic Coherence strong (ordered leadership over the people of God). Contested between this and the Exod 18 model.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.


'through many afflictions we must enter into the Kingdom of God' (v22) restates the wisdom that 'many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.' Volume moderate (the phrase 'many afflictions'); Thematic Coherence strong (suffering as the path of the faithful toward deliverance).


God 'had opened a door of faith to the nations' (v27) realizes the Servant's mandate to be 'a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth,' a programmatic Gentile-mission text in Luke-Acts (cf. Acts 13:47). Volume nil here (no verbal contact in v27); the link is the figural fulfillment of the nations' inclusion. Contested as an echo within this verse specifically.

yes, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.”


The Judean teachers demand circumcision 'after the custom of Moses' as necessary for salvation; the underlying institution is the Abrahamic covenant of circumcision, the sign required of every male, where the uncircumcised is 'cut off.' The whole dispute presupposes this text as the charter of the boundary marker. Verbal coherence ('circumcised') and thematic centrality are strong.

This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. He who is born in your […]


The Mosaic codification of circumcision (eighth-day) is what 'the custom of Moses' (v.1) most directly names, distinguishing the demand here from the merely Abrahamic command; supports the phrase 'keep the law of Moses' (v.5).

In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.


The Torah's own rule that a foreigner must be circumcised before sharing in the Passover/community is the legal logic the circumcision party extends to Gentile believers — only the circumcised may belong. Faint, conceptual.

When a stranger shall live as a foreigner with you, and will keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one who is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.


Peter calls God the one 'who knows the heart' (kardiognostes, v.8) who 'made no distinction... cleansing their hearts.' This recalls the LORD who, unlike man looking on outward appearance, 'looks on the heart' — here applied to overturning the outward circumcision marker in favor of inward purity. Strong thematic coherence.

But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for I see not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”


Solomon's prayer addresses God who alone 'knows the hearts of all the children of men'; a recurrent OT divine epithet standing behind Peter's heart-knowing God who reads Gentile faith. Recurrence test supports the motif.

then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;)


'I the LORD search the heart' — part of the same cluster of heart-searching texts informing v.8's claim that God testified about the Gentiles by reading their hearts.

I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.


God 'cleansing their hearts by faith' (v.9) echoes the promise that the LORD will circumcise the heart — interiorized, divinely-wrought purity displacing the external rite at issue in the chapter. Thematically potent for the circumcision debate.

Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.


Heart-cleansing language (v.9) coheres with the promise to sprinkle clean water, give a new heart, and put the Spirit within — note v.8's gift of the Spirit alongside the cleansing. The Spirit + cleansed heart pairing is striking.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my ordinances, and do them.


'Circumcise the foreskin of your heart' reinforces the inward-circumcision motif behind 'cleansing their hearts' (v.9). Faint, overlaps with Deut 30:6.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.


Peter's 'yoke... which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear' (v.10) uses yoke-as-burden imagery; OT yoke metaphor (e.g., the good of bearing the yoke) lies in the background, though Peter inverts it as an unbearable load. Figural/contested.

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.


James's formal scriptural proof (vv.16-17): 'I will... build the tabernacle of David which has fallen... that the rest of men may seek after the Lord, all the Gentiles who are called by my name.' This follows the Septuagint against the Hebrew: MT 'that they may possess the remnant of Edom' becomes LXX 'that the rest of mankind may seek' (Heb. yireshu 'possess' read as yidreshu 'seek'; 'Edom' read as 'adam, mankind) — the very reading that makes Gentile inclusion the prophetic point. Highest volume and decisive function in the argument.

In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old; that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says Yahweh who does this.

In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and will rebuild the ruins of it, and will set up the parts thereof that have been broken down, and will build it up as in the ancient days: that the remnant of men, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, may earnestly seek me, saith the Lord who does all these things.


The opening of the citation, 'After these things I will return' (v.16), is not in Amos; it most closely matches 'I will return and have compassion on them,' suggesting James has conflated Amos with Jeremiah's restoration promise. A genuine secondary source spliced into the quotation.

It shall happen, after that I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.


'Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God and David their king' shares the post-restoration 'seek the Lord' + Davidic motif underlying vv.16-17. Possible contributor to the catena's 'after these things... seek the Lord.' Contested.

Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.


James says God 'first visited the nations, to take out of them a people for his name' (v.14). The phrase 'a people for his name/possession' reuses the election formula by which Israel was 'a people for his own possession' — now extended to Gentiles. Strong thematic reuse of covenant election language.

For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.


'A people for his name' (v.14) echoes the Sinai promise that Israel would be God's 'treasured possession out of all peoples' — the foundational election text now applied to the nations. Recurrence with Deut 7:6 / 14:2.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;


'Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day and shall be my people' anticipates God taking a people from the Gentiles (v.14); part of the prophetic stream James invokes ('the words of the prophets,' v.15). Faint.

Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.


The closing tag, 'known to him from eternity / who declared these things of old' (vv.17b-18), resembles Isaiah's 'Who has declared this from of old?' — supplying the 'long-known to God' coloring appended to the Amos citation. Contested wording.

Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; There is no one besides me.


James's first prohibition, 'the pollution of idols' (v.20), corresponds to the resident-alien (ger) law forbidding sacrifices offered apart from the LORD — i.e., meat from idol-worship. The four-item decree as a whole derives from the laws binding on the stranger sojourning in Israel (Lev 17-18). High coherence; foundational to the decree.

“You shall say to them, ‘Any man there is of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, and doesn’t bring it to the door of the Tent of Meeting, to sacrifice it to Yahweh; that man shall be cut off from his people.


The prohibition of 'blood' (v.20) directly reuses the repeated Levitical ban applying to both Israelite and the resident alien: 'no one of you shall eat blood.' Explicitly extended to the ger, which is why it grounds rules for Gentile believers.

“‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life. Therefore I have said to the children of Israel, “No person […]


'What is strangled' (v.20) reflects the requirement to drain the blood of any animal caught/killed — flesh with blood in it (a strangled animal) is forbidden, again binding on the sojourner. The 'strangled'/blood pairing in the decree mirrors this law.

“‘Whatever man there is of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who takes in hunting any animal or bird that may be eaten; he shall pour out its blood, and cover it with dust. For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life: therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.” “‘Every […]


'Sexual immorality' (porneia, v.20) corresponds to the forbidden-unions catalogue of Lev 18, which v.26 expressly imposes on 'the stranger that sojourns among you.' The decree's fourth item completes the set of Holiness-Code rules for resident aliens.

“‘None of you shall approach anyone who are his close relatives, to uncover their nakedness: I am Yahweh. “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness. “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness. “‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father, or the daughter of your mother, […]


The blood prohibition (v.20) also rests on the Noahic command given to all humanity — 'flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat' — which suits Gentiles since it precedes and exceeds Israel's law. Often paired with Lev 17 as the rationale for a universally-binding minimum.

But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.


'Moses... read in the synagogues every Sabbath' (v.21) presupposes the Sabbath institution as the appointed day of holy convocation. Faint, institutional background to the verse.

“‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.


The written decree restates the prohibitions: 'things sacrificed to idols' (v.29) reuses the Levitical ban on sacrifices offered outside the LORD's worship, binding on the resident alien. Repetition of the v.20 list.


'Blood' (v.29) again reflects the Holiness Code's repeated prohibition extended to the sojourner.


'Things strangled' (v.29) reflects the requirement to drain blood from killed animals; flesh retaining blood is forbidden to Israelite and stranger alike.


'Sexual immorality' (v.29) corresponds to the forbidden unions of Lev 18, imposed on the resident alien (v.26). The letter's four items reproduce the ger-laws of Lev 17-18.


The blood abstention (v.29) coheres with the universal Noahic command against eating flesh with its blood, the natural basis for a rule binding on Gentiles.


Paul circumcises Timothy 'because of the Jews.' The act invokes the Abrahamic covenant of circumcision as the enduring sign of belonging to the covenant people; Luke presents it as missionary accommodation rather than salvific necessity, but the gesture is unintelligible apart from this foundational statute.

God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he […]


The Passover rule that an uncircumcised man may not partake, while the circumcised foreigner becomes 'as one born in the land,' frames Timothy (son of a Jewess, Greek father) as a borderline figure regularized by circumcision so he can move freely among Jews. Thematic resonance; no verbal borrowing.

When a stranger shall live as a foreigner with you, and will keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one who is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.


Delivering 'the decrees... to keep' which the apostles and elders ordained echoes the Mosaic pattern of transmitting statutes and ordinances for the people to keep; the apostolic council functions as a new authoritative legislature. Structural/lexical resonance (statutes delivered to be kept).

You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do.


'The assemblies... increased in number daily' recalls the Septuagintal language of Israel multiplying and increasing greatly in Egypt (cf. Genesis 1:28); a recurring Lukan growth-formula casting the church as the multiplying covenant people.

The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.


God speaks to Israel/Jacob 'in visions of the night,' directing his movement to a new land ('I will go down with thee') with assurance of divine purpose. The Macedonian vision in the night that redirects Paul's journey across into Europe shares the genre (night vision) and function (divine redirection of geography) closely.

God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.” He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes.”


The Spirit twice forbidding and not allowing the missionaries' chosen routes, then steering them, echoes the pillar of cloud and fire guiding Israel's route step by step; divine micromanagement of the missionary itinerary as a new wilderness leading. Thematic only.

Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night:


'A vision appeared to Paul in the night' uses the stock revelatory idiom of the word/vision of the LORD coming in the night; Abram's night vision is the paradigm of God commissioning through nocturnal revelation. Generic verbal resonance.

After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”


Mystery 'revealed in a night vision' as the medium of divine disclosure; faint Septuagintal parallel for night-vision revelation that resolves a course of action.

Then was the secret revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.


Lydia, a 'seller of purple' whose household and hospitality she manages, evokes the capable woman of Proverbs 31 whose clothing is purple and who trades in fine cloth; a wealthy, industrious, God-honoring matron. Suggestive characterization, no quotation.

She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.


Purple as the prized textile of the tabernacle offerings; Lydia's trade in purple carries an aura of dignity and devoted craft. Lexical (purple) only.

blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats’ hair,


'The Lord opened her heart to listen' is the divine-initiative idiom of the LORD circumcising/opening the heart so that Israel will hear and obey; conversion is portrayed as God's sovereign opening of the heart, the inward counterpart to covenant circumcision. Thematic coherence strong.

Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.


'Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things' as the prayer-paradigm for God enabling perception of his word; Lydia's opened heart to attend to Paul's words is its narrative fulfillment. Conceptual parallel.

Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of your law.


The slave girl has a 'spirit of divination' (Greek: a python spirit) and earns money by fortune-telling. The Mosaic legislation expressly bans divination, soothsaying, and consulting spirits as abominations among the nations Israel dispossesses; Paul's exorcism enacts the abolition of precisely this pagan practice. Strong thematic and conceptual coherence with the core prohibition.

There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.


'Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards.' The girl's mantic spirit is the very category Israel is forbidden to consult; Paul's command silences and casts out the source. Reinforces the divination-prohibition cluster.

“‘Don’t turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Yahweh your God.


The penalty against souls turning after mediums and familiar spirits; the pericope dramatizes the divine verdict on a profit-driven mantic spirit. Thematic recurrence within the Holiness Code's ban on spiritism.

“‘The person that turns to those who are mediums, and to the wizards, to play the prostitute after them, I will even set my face against that person, and will cut him off from among his people.


The medium of Endor as the canonical narrative instance of a woman trafficking in a familiar/divining spirit; the Philippian slave girl is its degraded Greco-Roman counterpart, here exposed and dispossessed. Narrative-typological resonance.

Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.” Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, “Please divine to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.” The woman said to him, […]


The spirit's cry that these are servants of 'the Most High God' (El Elyon) uses the divine title introduced by Melchizedek, God Most High, maker of heaven and earth; a Gentile-context title for the one true God now proclaimed (ironically) by a pagan spirit. Lexical-theological link to the El Elyon title-tradition.

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth: and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.


'Servants of the Most High God' is the Septuagintal acclamation applied to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by a pagan king; the slave girl's confession echoes this Gentile recognition of servants of God Most High. Verbal parallel to the title.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the midst of the fire.


The prophet Jeremiah is beaten and put in the stocks for proclaiming God's word; Paul and Silas, beaten with rods and fastened in stocks in the inner prison, replay the persecuted-prophet-in-stocks pattern. Strong situational coherence (beating + stocks for the word).

Then Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in Yahweh’s house.


Joseph, falsely accused, is cast into the prison where the king's prisoners are bound, yet the LORD is with him; the righteous servant unjustly imprisoned and divinely vindicated prefigures Paul and Silas. Typological resonance setting up the deliverance.

Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were bound, and he was there in custody.


The Mosaic regulation of judicial beating by a fixed number of stripes ('many stripes' laid on them) supplies the legal-cultural backdrop for the flogging, though here the Roman magistrates' beating is lawless. Conceptual link to the stripes motif.

It shall be, if the wicked man is worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number. He may sentence him to no more than forty stripes. He shall not give more; lest, if he should give more, and beat him more than that many stripes, then your brother will be degraded in your sight.


'Thou puttest my feet in the stocks' as the poetic image of constraint by an adversary; the securing of Paul and Silas's feet in the stocks resonates with this Joban idiom of the afflicted righteous (cf. Job 33:11). Lexical (feet in stocks).

You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,


God 'brought them out of darkness... and brake their bands in sunder,' for 'he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.' The midnight earthquake that opens all the prison doors and looses everyone's bonds is the narrative enactment of this thanksgiving for the imprisoned whom God frees. Strong volume and thematic coherence; the controlling subtext for the deliverance.

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke away their chains. Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he has broken the gates of brass, and cut through bars of iron.


'The LORD looseth the prisoners' as a signature of God's saving character; the loosing of every prisoner's bonds dramatizes this divine attribute. Direct thematic match.

who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. Yahweh frees the prisoners.


'At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee.' Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns to God 'about midnight' closely matches the psalmist's nocturnal praise of the righteous sufferer who blesses God at the very hour of distress.

At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you, because of your righteous ordinances.


'God my maker, who giveth songs in the night' as the wisdom theme of praise amid darkness; the midnight hymns of the prisoners embody songs given in the night. Conceptual parallel.

But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,


'The earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken' in God's deliverance of his servant from enemies; the 'great earthquake' shaking 'the foundations of the prison' is the theophanic-rescue earthquake of the Davidic deliverance psalm. Lexical (foundations shaken) and thematic.

Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.


The quaking of Sinai at God's descent supplies the theophany-as-earthquake background; the prison earthquake signals God's powerful presence. Thematic resonance, generic earthquake-theophany.

Mount Sinai, all it, smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.


'I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron' (to Cyrus); a second prophetic instance of God shattering prison/city barriers, reinforcing the Psalm 107 gate-breaking motif behind the opened doors. Recurrence of the broken-barriers theme.

“I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of brass in pieces, and cut apart the bars of iron.


The Servant's commission 'to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house'; the liberation of the jailer's prisoners realizes this servant-mission imagery. Thematic.

to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.


'Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing'; the jailer who was about to kill himself ends 'rejoicing greatly with all his household,' the reversal-into-joy pattern of the deliverance psalms. Conceptual resonance for the turn from despair to rejoicing.

You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,


'Go in peace' is the stock Hebrew dismissal-blessing (cf. Exodus 4:18; Judges 18:6); the jailer's 'go in peace' to the released prisoners carries this benedictory idiom. Lexical formula only.

Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him.”


'The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.' The magistrates who were 'afraid when they heard that they were Romans' and came begging, while Paul stands boldly on his rights, illustrates this wisdom reversal of fear between the unjust and the vindicated righteous. Thematic.

The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.


Joseph brought out of the prison and publicly vindicated before the authorities; Paul's insistence that the magistrates themselves come and bring them out continues the unjustly-imprisoned-then-honorably-released pattern. Typological resonance closing the prison sequence.

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh.


The reversal in which fear of the formerly oppressed falls upon the officials and rulers who had moved against them; the Philippian magistrates' fear and capitulation echoes this peripeteia of vindication. Faint thematic link.

Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to conquer them, (but it was turned out the opposite happened, that the Jews conquered those who hated them), the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those who wanted […]


Paul reasons 'from the Scriptures' that the Christ 'had to suffer'; the Suffering Servant is the natural scriptural ground for a suffering Messiah, a recurrent NT proof-text. Volume modest in the narrative summary itself but thematic coherence with the synagogue argument is strong.

He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him. Surely he has borne our sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed. All we […]


'rise again from the dead' echoes the psalm's 'you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,' the standard apostolic resurrection proof from Scripture (cf. its explicit use in earlier Acts speeches). Recurrence high in Luke-Acts.

For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.


'rise again' may glance at 'on the third day he will raise us up'; verbal contact is thin and the third-day motif is not stated here, so the link is faint and contested.

After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.


The charge that Paul proclaims 'another king, Jesus' resonates with the psalm's rulers raging against the LORD and his Anointed; Luke elsewhere cites Psalm 2, so recurrence supports a faint background, though no quotation is made here.

Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,


'another king' set against Caesar's decrees may evoke the everlasting dominion given to the son of man, but verbal volume is negligible.

I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


The Beroeans 'examining the Scriptures daily' figurally images the blessed one who meditates on the law day and night; thematic coherence only, no verbal borrowing.

but his delight is in Yahweh’s law. On his law he meditates day and night.


Daily reading and searching of the written word loosely recalls the king's charge to read the law all his days; very faint.

It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write himself a copy of this law in a book, out of that which is before the priests the Levites. It shall be with him, and he shall read from it all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear Yahweh his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them;


Paul's spirit 'provoked' (paroxynein) at a city full of idols echoes the LXX of Israel provoking God to anger with their idols, the same verb-field; thematic coherence between human and divine zeal against idolatry is strong.

They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.


A 'city full of idols' matches Wisdom's diatribe on the proliferation of cult images; deuterocanonical idol-polemic is the closest contemporary parallel and frames the whole Athens episode.

Therefore also among the idols of the nations will there be a visitation, Because, though formed of things which God created, they were made an abomination, And stumbling blocks to the souls of men, And a snare to the feet of the foolish. For the devising of idols was the beginning of fornication, And the invention of them the corruption of life: For neither were they from the beginning, neither will they be forever; For by the vaingloriousness of men […]


The lifeless 'idols' that provoke Paul evoke the classic psalm of handmade gods of silver and gold that cannot see or hear; recurrence of this polemic across the Psalter is high.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.


Parallel idol-polemic to Psalm 115; included for completeness as a recurrent OT topos behind the scene.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. They have ears, but they can’t hear; neither is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.


Isaiah's extended mockery of the craftsman who fashions a god stands behind both Paul's revulsion here and his later argument that the divine is not 'engraved by art'; sets up vv.29.

Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes an ax, works […]


Jeremiah's contrast of dead idols with the living Creator anticipates Paul's pivot from idols to the God who made all; thematic, not verbal.

Hear the word which Yahweh speaks to you, house of Israel! Thus says Yahweh, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. They are like a palm tree, […]


'The God who made the world and all things in it' is creation-monotheism rooted in the opening of Genesis; high volume and thematic coherence, the foundation of the whole sermon.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


Isaiah's God who 'created the heavens... gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it' tightly combines both of Paul's claims: maker of the world (v.24) and giver of life and breath (v.25). Strong verbal and conceptual overlap.

Thus says God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it.


'made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them' is echoed in 'made the world and all things in it... Lord of heaven and earth'; recurrent creation formula.

for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.


'who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them' parallels v.24's creation summary; recurrence of the formula raises confidence.

who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;


'You made heaven... the earth and all that is on it... and you give life to them all' parallels both creation and life-giving themes; included as a recurrent OT confession.

You are Yahweh, even you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their army, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and you preserve them all. The army of heaven worships you.


'Lord of heaven and earth' (v.24) echoes 'God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth'; faint title-level contact.

He blessed him, and said, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:


'heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it' supports 'Lord of heaven and earth'; recurrent title.

Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is therein.


Solomon's 'heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house I have built' directly grounds 'does not dwell in temples made with hands.' Strong thematic coherence at the dedication of the very institution Paul relativizes.

But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!


'Heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool; what house will you build for me?' is the prophetic charter for 'does not dwell in temples made with hands' and for needing nothing from human hands; quoted by Stephen in Acts 7, so recurrence in Acts is high.

Thus says Yahweh, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build to me? and what place shall be my rest? For all these things has my hand made, and so all these things came to be,” says Yahweh: “but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.


Parallel to 1 Kings 8:27, the same temple-cannot-contain-God confession behind v.24.

“But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house which I have built!


'If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine' grounds v.25, that God is not 'served by human hands as though he needed anything'; strong thematic coherence with sacrificial critique.

I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of […]


'He himself gives to all life and breath' echoes God breathing the breath of life into the man; foundational creation text for the life-giver claim.

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.


'In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind' closely matches 'gives to all life and breath.'

in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?


'The breath of the Almighty gives me life' parallels v.25's life and breath; recurrent wisdom motif.

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.


'God of the spirits of all flesh' supports the universal life-giver theme of v.25.

They fell on their faces, and said, “God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”


The high and lofty One who nonetheless gives breath ('the breath that I have made') touches v.25; faint.

For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls who I have made.


'When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance... he fixed the boundaries of the peoples' is the key text behind v.26, God making every nation and 'fixing the boundaries of their dwellings.' Strong verbal and conceptual coherence.

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.


'Made from one... every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth' draws on the creation and filling of the earth from the one human pair.

God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”


The Table of Nations, all peoples spreading 'from one' after the flood, underlies the unity-of-nations claim in v.26.

These are the families of the sons of Noah, by their generations, according to their nations. The nations divided from these in the earth after the flood.


'Determined appointed seasons' may glance at the luminaries set 'for seasons'; faint, since the sense here is more likely the epochs of nations.

God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;


'He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away' parallels v.26's sovereign setting of appointed times and boundaries for peoples.

He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.


'You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth' directly supports 'the boundaries of their dwellings' in v.26.

You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.


'You will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search with all your heart' underlies v.27, that the nations 'should seek the Lord... and find him.'

But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.


'Seek the LORD while he may be found' parallels v.27's seek-and-find; recurrent prophetic summons.

Seek Yahweh while he may be found; call you on him while he is near:


'You will seek me and find me, when you seek with all your heart' parallels v.27; recurrent seek-and-find formula.

You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.


'The LORD is near to all who call on him' grounds 'he is not far from each one of us' (v.27).

Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.


'Am I a God near at hand... and not a God far off? Do I not fill heaven and earth?' closely supports 'not far from each one of us' and the immanence of vv.27-28.

Am I a God at hand, says Yahweh, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Yahweh. Don’t I fill heaven and earth? says Yahweh.


'What nation has a god so near to it as the LORD?' supports the nearness theme of v.27; faint.

For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him?