'To whom will you liken God?... a craftsman casts an idol, a goldsmith overlays it with gold' directly grounds v.29, that the Divine Nature is not 'like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art.'

To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it. He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved.


The craftsman who fashions a god from wood/metal stands behind v.29's rejection of images 'engraved by art and design of man.'

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 […]


Idols 'the work of human hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear' parallels v.29's gold, silver, and stone made by human craft.

There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.


'To whom will you liken me?... they hire a goldsmith who makes it into a god' parallels v.29; recurrent Isaianic idol-polemic.

“To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down—yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.


Wisdom's critique that people who admired the world's beauty failed to find its Maker, yet are 'not to be excused' because they could seek and find, closely tracks vv.24-29 (knowing the Creator from creation, seeking and finding). The deuterocanonical natural-theology bridge is the nearest analogue to the whole Areopagus argument.

For verily all men by nature were but vain who had no perception of God, And from the good things that are seen they gained not power to know him that is, Neither by giving heed to the works did they recognize the architect; But either fire, or wind, or swift air, Or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven, They thought to be gods that rule the world. And if it was through delight in their beauty that they took them to be gods, Let them […]


'Miserable... who called gods the works of human hands, gold and silver fashioned with skill, and likenesses of animals, or useless stone' is verbally very close to v.29's gold, silver, and stone shaped by human art.

But miserable were they, and in dead things were their hopes, Who called them gods which are works of men’s hands, Gold and silver, wrought with careful are, and likenesses of animals, Or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.


'You overlook the sins of men, that they may repent' parallels v.30, God 'overlooked' the times of ignorance and now commands repentance.

But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, And you overlookest the sins of men to the end they may repent.


Faint contact with the call to overlook ignorance and turn; weak link to v.30.

Remember the commandments, and be not angry with your neighbor; And remember the covenant of the Highest, and wink at ignorance.


'He comes to judge the earth; he will judge the world in righteousness' is almost verbatim with v.31, that God 'will judge the world in righteousness.' High volume.

before Yahweh; for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, the peoples with his truth.


'He will judge the world in righteousness' is a near-exact verbal parallel to v.31; recurrence of this formula across the Psalter strengthens the link.

He will judge the world in righteousness. He will administer judgment to the peoples in uprightness.


'He comes to judge the earth; he will judge the world with righteousness' is the third near-identical parallel to v.31, confirming a fixed liturgical formula behind Paul's words.

Let them sing before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.


'He will judge the peoples with equity' reinforces the universal-righteous-judgment theme of v.31.

Say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns.” The world is also established. It can’t be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.


Judgment 'by the man whom he has ordained' evokes the installed/anointed son to whom the nations are given; coherent with the appointed agent of v.31.

“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.” I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your father. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”


Judgment of the world entrusted to 'the man' (anthropos) recalls the son of man given everlasting dominion and judgment; supports the human appointed judge of v.31.

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.


'God will bring every deed into judgment' supports the coming-judgment theme of v.31; faint, no verbal contact.

For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.


The Athenians' reaction to 'the resurrection of the dead' brushes the OT bodily-resurrection hope of those who 'sleep in the dust' awakening; thematic background only, no verbal borrowing in the narrative response.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


'Your dead shall live... the earth will give birth to the dead' is the prophetic resurrection hope behind the doctrine the philosophers mock; faint.

Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.


Paul reasons in the synagogue 'every Sabbath' (v.4); the rhythm of weekly Sabbath gathering presupposes the Decalogue's Sabbath command. Faint and institutional rather than verbal, but the Sabbath frame is the OT scaffolding for the scene.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.


Paul stays with Aquila and Priscilla and works as a tentmaker (vv.2-3), earning bread by the labor of his own hands. A faint resonance with the Edenic decree of toil/sweat; the motif of apostolic self-support by manual labor draws on the dignity-and-burden-of-work theme rooted here.

By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”


Paul 'shook out his clothing' (garment) as a prophetic sign-act against those who oppose him — directly mirroring Nehemiah shaking out the fold of his robe as a curse-gesture: 'So may God shake out everyone... who does not perform this promise.' A symbolic disavowal handing the consequences back on the offenders.

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.


'Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean' transposes the watchman oracle: the warned who ignore the trumpet bear their own blood, while the faithful watchman has delivered his soul. Paul casts himself as the discharged watchman, his hearers as the warned-but-unheeding.

then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head.


The watchman who warns the wicked and is not heeded 'has delivered his soul' — exactly Paul's claim 'I am clean.' Recurrence with Ezekiel 33:4 strengthens the watchman frame.

Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he doesn’t turn from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.


The original commissioning of the watchman: if he warns and the wicked does not turn, 'you will have delivered your soul.' Paul's 'I am clean / your blood on your heads' draws on this earlier statement of the same principle.

When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.


'Your blood be on your own head' is David's verdict on the Amalekite — the same idiom of self-incurred bloodguilt that Paul pronounces over the resisting synagogue.

David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain Yahweh’s anointed.’”


The recurring legal formula 'his blood shall be upon him' (cf. vv.11-13,16,27) is the juridical source of the 'blood on your own head' idiom of self-responsibility that Paul invokes.

“‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.


Rahab's covenant: anyone who goes out of the house, 'his blood shall be on his own head,' while the household is held guiltless — the same shifting-of-bloodguilt formula behind Paul's declaration.

It shall be that whoever goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his head, and we will be guiltless. Whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head, if any hand is on him.


'His blood shall be upon himself' in the chapter on individual responsibility reinforces the bloodguilt idiom underlying Paul's words.

has lent on interest, and has taken increase; shall he then live? he shall not live: he has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be on him.


The night-vision reassurance 'Do not be afraid... for I am with you' is the classic divine-encouragement formula, of which Isaiah 41:10 ('Fear not, for I am with you... I will strengthen you') is the paradigm. Paul stands in the line of those summoned and steadied by God's presence.

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.


Jeremiah's prophetic call: 'Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.' Paul's commission to keep speaking despite opposition echoes the prophet's reassurance against hostile hearers.

Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you,” says Yahweh.


'They will fight against you but will not prevail, for I am with you' closely matches 'no one will attack you to harm you, for I am with you' — the same promise of protected speech in a hostile city.

They will fight against you; but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you”, says Yahweh, “to deliver you.”


'I will be with you' grounds Moses' sending; the same assurance underwrites Paul's mission in Corinth. The call-narrative pattern (objection met by promise of presence) shapes the vision.

He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”


Closest single parallel: the LORD appears to Isaac by night and says, 'Do not be afraid, for I am with you... I will multiply your offspring.' Night theophany + 'fear not' + 'I am with you' + promise of a great people maps almost point-for-point onto vv.9-10, including 'I have many people in this city.'

Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.”


'Do not be frightened... for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go' — the commissioning encouragement to a leader facing a daunting task, reused for Paul.

Haven’t I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid, neither be dismayed: for Yahweh your God is with you wherever you go.”


'Do not fear... for the LORD your God goes with you; he will not leave you' belongs to the same 'fear not / I am with you' tradition behind the vision.

Be strong and courageous. Don’t be afraid or scared of them; for Yahweh your God himself is who goes with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you.”


'Fear not, for I am with you' paired with gathering a people resonates with both the reassurance and the promise of 'many people in this city.'

Don’t be afraid; for I am with you. I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west.


Paul is haled before the tribunal by accusers who 'rose up' with malicious charges — the lament motif of malicious witnesses rising against the righteous sufferer ('Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things I do not know').

Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.


The concerted false accusation 'with one accord' before the judgment seat faintly recalls the law against joining a multitude to bring a malicious/false charge.

“You shall not spread a false report. Don’t join your hand with the wicked to be a malicious witness.


Paul 'shaved his head in Cenchreae, for he had a vow' — the Nazirite practice of shaving the head at the completion/discharge of a vow. Numbers 6:18 specifies shaving the consecrated head; the detail marks Paul's continued observance of Torah piety.

The Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.


The Nazirite law that no razor touch the head during the vow's duration (the hair grown then shaved) underlies the haircut-as-vow-completion in v.18. Recurrence with Numbers 6:18 anchors the Nazirite frame.

“‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.


Paul's resolve to 'keep this coming feast in Jerusalem' (v.21) reflects the pilgrimage-feast obligation to appear before the LORD at the appointed feasts in Jerusalem.

Three times in a year all of your shall males appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tents. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty.


The thrice-yearly command to appear before the Lord undergirds Paul's intention to keep the feast in Jerusalem; faint and institutional.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.


Apollos, 'mighty in the Scriptures,' speaks boldly in the synagogue and publicly refutes opponents from Scripture — resonating with the psalmist's resolve to 'speak of your testimonies before kings and not be put to shame.' Faint thematic, no verbal borrowing.

I will also speak of your statutes before kings, and will not be disappointed.


The Spirit comes upon the twelve disciples and they prophesy and speak in other tongues. Joel's promise of the outpoured Spirit producing prophecy (Volume: shared Spirit-prophecy idiom; Recurrence: this is Luke's programmatic Pentecost text from Acts 2, re-applied here to a 'second Pentecost' at Ephesus; Thematic Coherence: strong, the Spirit poured on believers issuing in prophetic speech). Satisfaction: the Ephesian episode reads as a deliberate echo of the Joel fulfillment Luke announced in Acts 2.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.


When the Spirit rests on the seventy elders they prophesy; here the Spirit comes and the twelve prophesy. The corporate, derivative bestowal of the Spirit producing immediate prophecy is a close conceptual match (Volume: moderate; Recurrence: Luke elsewhere draws on Numbers 11 Moses/spirit motifs; Coherence: high). Moses' wish that all the Lord's people were prophets stands behind Luke's spreading-Spirit theology.

Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran, and told […]


Paul lays his hands on the disciples and the Spirit comes; Moses lays hands on Joshua, a man in whom is the Spirit, transferring authority. The laying-on-of-hands-to-convey-Spirit gesture has its primary OT root here (with Deut 34:9). Low volume, contested as it may simply be a fixed cultic gesture.

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 […]


Joshua was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him; here laying on of hands conveys the Spirit. Reinforces the Mosaic hand-laying/Spirit-transfer pattern. Low volume, contested.

Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel listened to him, and did as Yahweh commanded Moses.


The Spirit of the Lord rushes upon Saul and he prophesies, turned into another man; here the Spirit comes and the disciples prophesy. A stock OT pattern of Spirit-onset producing ecstatic prophecy. Contested, faint verbal contact.

and the Spirit of Yahweh will come mightily on you, and you shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man.


Paul explains John's baptism as preparatory, pointing to the Coming One. John's whole ministry is grounded in the Isaian voice preparing the way; this verse explicitly recalls the forerunner role. Faint here since the verbal weight is minimal in this pericope.

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.


Paul preaches boldly in the synagogue until some are hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way; Ezekiel is told the house of Israel will not listen because they are hard of forehead and stubborn of heart. The hardened-hearer motif of the prophet's rejected word is strongly coherent (Volume: shared hardening/refusal language; Recurrence: Luke uses Israel-hardening as a structuring theme in Acts; Coherence: high).

But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.


The hardening of those who hear the word, leading the messenger to turn elsewhere, echoes Isaiah's commission to a people whose heart is made fat and will not understand. Luke cites this text explicitly in Acts 28 as the climactic interpretation of Jewish unbelief, making it a recurring lens here. Coherence high; verbal contact in this pericope is allusive.

He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’ Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.”


Paul reasons and persuades about the Kingdom of God for three months. Daniel's God of heaven who sets up an everlasting kingdom is a chief OT source of the kingdom-of-God language. Faint, since the phrase is summary. Contested.

In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.


Over two years all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord; Isaiah's word that goes out and does not return empty but accomplishes its purpose underlies Luke's repeated 'the word spread/grew' refrain. Faint here, fuller at 19:20. Contested.

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.


Cloths that had touched Paul's body heal the sick and expel spirits; mere contact with Elisha's bones revives a dead man. The motif of healing power mediated through physical contact with a holy person (even at a remove) is a strong conceptual parallel to the Elisha cycle (Volume: shared contact-healing logic; Recurrence: Luke models Paul/Peter on Elijah-Elisha; Coherence: high).

As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a band of raiders; and they threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. As soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.


Elisha sends his staff (an extension of himself) ahead to heal, then heals by bodily contact; here objects from Paul's body carry healing virtue. The mediating-object pattern links the two. Low volume, contested.

Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the face of the child.” The mother of the child said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” He arose, and followed her. Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither […]


Elijah's mantle, a garment of the holy man, works miracle when applied; Paul's handkerchiefs and aprons function similarly as charged garments. Faint, contested.

Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that they two went over on dry ground.


Jewish exorcists invoke the name of the Lord Jesus illegitimately and are violently humiliated; the prohibition against taking the divine name in vain stands behind the danger of wielding a holy name without authorization. Conceptual, low verbal contact. Contested.

“You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.


The outcome is that the name of the Lord Jesus is magnified; the psalmist's call to magnify the Lord and exalt his name supplies the idiom. Faint, formulaic. Contested.

Oh magnify Yahweh with me. Let us exalt his name together.


The evil spirit overpowers the would-be exorcists who flee naked and wounded, exposing the impotence of those who presume on holy power; compare the humiliation of Dagon falling before the ark when the holy is mishandled by outsiders. Figural parallel of the sacred overpowering presumptuous handlers. Faint, contested.

Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. The Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. When they of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before Yahweh’s ark. They took Dagon, and set him in his place again. When they arose early on the next day morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground […]


Fear falls and the name of the Lord is magnified among Jews and Greeks alike; Malachi's vision of the Lord's name being great among the nations resonates with the name being exalted across ethnic lines at Ephesus. Faint, contested.

For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says Yahweh of Armies.


Magicians publicly renounce and burn their books of magical arts; Deuteronomy names sorcery, divination, and the practice of magic as detestable abominations to be purged from Israel. The repudiation of magic is the precise behavior the law demands (Volume: strong thematic match of magic-renunciation; Recurrence: Luke repeatedly opposes the gospel to magic, Simon in ch.8, Bar-Jesus in ch.13; Coherence: high). The book-burning enacts the Deuteronomic purge.

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.


The destruction of magical practice at Ephesus enacts the law's severe stance against sorcery, you shall not permit a sorceress to live. The Ephesians do not kill but burn the apparatus, yet the abolition of magic from the believing community is the same impulse. Coherence high; allusive.

“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.


Believers turn from magical arts; Leviticus forbids turning to mediums and wizards lest one be defiled. The conversion-from-occult theme coheres strongly. Contested in that no single phrase is quoted.

“‘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.


Babylon's abundance of sorceries and enchantments cannot save her and will be burned like stubble; here the magicians' costly books (50,000 pieces of silver) are burned, the impotence of magic exposed before the word. A pointed figural parallel of magic consumed by fire. Contested.

but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else besides me. Therefore evil will come on […]


I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you shall have no more soothsayers; the eschatological cleansing of magic from God's people is enacted at Ephesus. Faint, contested.

I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no soothsayers.


Believers come confessing and declaring their deeds; whoever confesses and forsakes his sins obtains mercy. The open confession-and-renunciation pattern coheres. Faint, contested.

He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.


So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed; Isaiah's effectual word that accomplishes God's purpose underlies Luke's growth refrain. Faint, formulaic. Contested.


Paul resolves in the spirit on a journey culminating at Jerusalem and Rome, the imperial center; Daniel's vision of God's kingdom set up in the days of the Gentile empires gives a backdrop to the gospel's march toward Rome. Very faint, contested.


Demetrius's silversmiths make shrines of Artemis, and Paul has taught that gods made with hands are no gods; Isaiah's great satire on the craftsman who fashions an idol with his own hands and then worships it is the controlling OT polemic (Volume: strong, the made-with-hands idol-craftsman is the shared center; Recurrence: idol-polemic recurs across Isaiah and the Psalms which Luke knows; Coherence: very high, the economic self-interest of the idol-trade mirrors Isaiah's irony). Plausibility and satisfaction: this is the classic prophetic mockery of manufactured deity.

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 […]


Idols are the work of the craftsman's hands, silver and gold, decked and unable to act; the silversmith is put to shame by his idols. Demetrius the silver craftsman and his guild embody exactly this trade. Strong thematic and lexical coherence (silver, craftsman, the work of human hands). Plausible and satisfying as the source of Paul's 'no gods made with hands.'

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, […]


Can man make gods for himself? Such are no gods. Paul's words that they are no gods which are made with hands stand remarkably close to Jeremiah's rhetorical denial. Volume high for the specific phrase; contested only because it is a stock prophetic commonplace.

Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods?


Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands; those who make them become like them. The silver-shrine trade and the made-with-hands charge directly invoke this psalm's idol-satire. Strong coherence and recurrence (paired with Ps 135).

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 idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands, mouths that cannot speak; a near-twin of Ps 115 reinforcing the made-with-hands polemic against the silver Artemis shrines. Coherence high.

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.


Deuterocanonical satire on the artisan who shapes a worthless image and prays to it for his livelihood; Demetrius openly admits the cult is his source of wealth (v.25). Wisdom's link between idol-craft and economic dependence on dead images is the closest ancient parallel to the silversmiths' protest. Strong coherence; Luke and Paul plausibly stand in this Hellenistic-Jewish idol-polemic tradition.

But miserable were they, and in dead things were their hopes, Who called them gods which are works of men’s hands, Gold and silver, wrought with careful are, and likenesses of animals, Or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand. Yes and if some woodcutter, having sawn down a tree that is easily moved, Skilfully strippeth away all its bark, And fashioning it in comely form makes a vessel useful for the service of life; And burning the refuse of his […]


Cursed is the idol and the one who made it; the made object and its maker condemned together. Coheres with the indictment of the manufactured Artemis. Contested.

But the idol made with hands is accursed, itself and he that made it; Because his was the working, and the corruptible thing was named a god:


The potter/craftsman who molds gods for gain, knowing he sins, caring only for profit; Demetrius's frank appeal to profit from the shrine-trade matches Wisdom's portrait of the mercenary idol-maker. Strong thematic coherence; contested as one of several overlapping idol texts.

For a potter, kneading soft earth, Laboriously mouldeth each several vessel for our service: Nay, out of the same clay does he fashion Both the vessels that minister to clean uses, and those of a contrary sort, All in like manner; But what shall be the use of each vessel of either sort, The craftsman himself is the judge. And also, laboring to an evil end, he mouldeth a vain god out of the same clay, He who, having but a little before been made of earth, […]


They lavish gold and weigh out silver, hire a goldsmith to make a god, then bow down; it cannot move or save. The silversmith hiring out his craft to make a deity matches Demetrius's guild. Coherence high; contested among the cluster.

Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down—yes, they worship. They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.


What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a teacher of lies, woe to him who says to wood Awake; the futility of the crafted image the maker trusts. Coheres with the made-with-hands theme. Contested.

“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols? Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst.


There you will serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear; the made-with-hands formula. Faint, contested, part of the cluster.

There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.


The crowd cries Great is Artemis of the Ephesians with one voice for about two hours; the prophets of Baal call on their god from morning until noon, O Baal hear us, raving in vain while no one answers. The prolonged, frenzied, futile invocation of a powerless deity is a striking figural parallel exposing the impotence of the idol (Volume: shared marathon-cry of pagan devotees; Coherence: high). Satisfaction: Luke's reader hears the Carmel irony behind the Ephesian shouting.

They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, “Baal, hear us!” But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. At noon, Elijah mocked them, and said, “Cry aloud; for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened.” They cried aloud, and cut themselves in […]


The whole city is thrown into uproar and rushes together in confusion; why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain. The raging Gentile mob set against the Lord's work fits the psalm's tumult of the nations. Faint, contested.

Why do the nations rage, and the peoples plot a vain thing?


A confused mass shouting and surging in devotion to a false god recalls the noise of the camp at the golden calf, a tumult of idolatrous celebration. Figural and faint. Contested.

When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is the noise of war in the camp.” He said, “It isn’t the voice of those who shout for victory, neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome; but the noise of those who sing that I hear.” As soon as he came near to the camp, he saw the calf and the dancing. Then Moses’ anger grew hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the […]


The town clerk appeals to the image of Artemis that fell from heaven (Diopetes); Isaiah's satire that the idol is in truth a manufactured object stands in tension with the civic claim of a heaven-fallen image, underscoring the irony Luke wants the reader to feel. Faint here, fuller at 19:23-27. Contested.


The town clerk quiets and stills the roaring multitude; only God stills the roaring of the seas and the tumult of the peoples. A faint figural touch on the stilling of crowd-tumult. Contested.

who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.


The clerk urges them to be quiet and do nothing rash; a wise man holds back the fool's outburst of anger. Faint sapiential resonance. Contested.

A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control.


Luke dates the Troas voyage 'after the days of Unleavened Bread,' invoking the Passover/Massot calendar prescribed here. The festival reference is precise and structural (it anchors the chronology), though it functions as a time-marker rather than an interpretive citation; volume is moderate, recurrence in Luke-Acts of festal dating is real (cf. Pentecost in v.16).

“‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. You shall observe the feast […]


Deuteronomy's restatement of the seven days of unleavened bread underlies the same festal marker; an alternative locus for the calendar allusion behind 'days of Unleavened Bread.'

You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste; that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.


The recurring 'plot made against him by Jews' (v.3, cf. v.19) resonates faintly with the lament topos of the righteous sufferer surrounded by those who scheme to take his life; thematic coherence with Paul-as-persecuted-servant, but no verbal borrowing.

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.


The raising of Eutychus is a deliberate Elijah typology: a man of God descends to a dead youth, throws himself upon the body, and the boy's life returns. Elijah 'stretched himself upon the child' (LXX) and the child's life came back to him; Paul 'fell upon him, embracing him' and declares 'his life is in him.' Volume is high (the bodily prostration on the corpse), recurrence strong (Luke pairs his apostles with Elijah/Elisha resurrections elsewhere), thematic coherence excellent.

After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so severe, that there was no breath left in him. She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!” He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. He cried to Yahweh, and said, […]


The Elisha raising of the Shunammite's son is the closest structural twin: prophet enters where the dead child lies, stretches/lies upon him, life returns, and the living child is restored to the household 'greatly comforted.' The deliverance of the boy 'alive' (v.12) mirrors the son given back. Two resurrection narratives converge here, reinforcing the Elijah/Elisha pattern.

When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid on his bed. He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh. He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the flesh of the child grew warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself on him. Then […]


The Shunammite boy's collapse and death by midday provides the death-of-the-youth setup that the raising narrative answers; included as the antecedent scene to the 2 Kings 4:32-37 type.

When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers. He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.


Paul hastens 'to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost' (v.16); the Feast of Weeks counted fifty days from the Massot offering is legislated here, naming and grounding the festival Luke invokes. The reference is precise but functions chronologically rather than as exegetical citation.

“‘You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be completed: even to the next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall number fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh. You shall bring out of your habitations two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour. They shall be baked with yeast, for first fruits […]


Deuteronomy's command to keep the Feast of Weeks at the place the Lord chooses (Jerusalem) underlies Paul's urgency to be there for Pentecost; an alternative locus for the festal allusion.

You shall count for yourselves seven weeks. From the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you shall begin to number seven weeks. You shall keep the feast of weeks to Yahweh your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give, according as Yahweh your God blesses you. You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your […]


Paul's self-description as one who 'didn't shrink from declaring anything profitable' (v.20) and testified repentance (v.21) begins the watchman motif that crests in v.26-27; the prophet appointed watchman who must declare the whole message anticipates Paul's accounting. Verbal overlap is light here, fuller in the next pericope.

Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel: therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I tell the wicked, You shall surely die; and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, […]


'I go bound by the Spirit to Jerusalem' (v.22) and the Spirit's testimony that 'bonds and afflictions wait for me' (v.23) resonate with the prophetic compulsion to a costly word one cannot withhold; thematic coherence with Jeremiah's constrained, suffering vocation, no verbal borrowing.

If I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can’t.


Paul's ministry 'with many tears' amid 'plots of the Jews' (v.19) and his journey toward inevitable suffering echoes the deuteronomistic pattern of the persistently rejected prophets/messengers; faint thematic link.

Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, until there was no remedy.


Paul's 'I am clean from the blood of all men' (v.26) directly takes up the watchman oracle: the watchman who warns is innocent of the blood of those who perish, while the negligent watchman bears their blood. The blood-guilt formula is distinctive and the watchman-over-the-people role frames the whole farewell. High volume and thematic coherence.

Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman; if, when he sees the sword come on the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t take warning, if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He […]


The first watchman commission, where the prophet who fails to warn has the sinner's blood 'required at your hand' but the faithful one 'delivers his soul,' is the twin source of Paul's blood-innocence claim (v.26) tied to declaring 'the whole counsel of God' (v.27). Recurs with Ezek 33; together a strong watchman intertext.


The charge to 'shepherd the assembly of the Lord' and guard 'all the flock' over which they are made overseers (v.28), against shepherds who exploit and fail to protect, draws on Ezekiel's oracle against the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves and let the flock be scattered and devoured. The overseer-shepherd-flock cluster is dense and coherent.

Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don’t feed the sheep. You haven’t strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither […]


The tender shepherd who gathers and feeds the flock informs the pastoral 'shepherd the assembly' charge (v.28); the positive shepherd image complements the Ezekiel 34 indictment.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.


'Vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock' (v.29) takes up Ezekiel's image of the princes 'like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying souls' for gain. The wolves-versus-flock predation maps closely onto the corrupt leaders devouring the people.

Her princes in its midst are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.


Zephaniah's officials as 'evening wolves that leave nothing for the morning' is a strong alternative locus for the savage-wolves-not-sparing image (v.29); reinforces the prophetic wolf-leader topos.

Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.


The flock scattered and become food for 'every beast of the field' because there was no shepherd undergirds the warning that wolves will ravage the flock after Paul's departure (v.29); ties the wolf threat back into the Ezekiel 34 shepherd oracle.

They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.


'Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them' (v.30) echoes the Deuteronomic warning against prophets who arise from within Israel to lead the people astray after them, who must be purged; thematic and structural coherence (internal seducers drawing the people away).

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. […]


The worthless shepherd who abandons and devours the flock provides a further wolf/false-shepherd resonance for the predatory leaders foreseen in v.29-30.

Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces. Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his […]


Moses' prayer for a successor 'that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep without a shepherd' faintly underlies Paul's succession-anxiety farewell, handing the flock to the elders before his departure (v.28-31).

“Let Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in; that the congregation of Yahweh not be as sheep which have no shepherd.”


'The inheritance among all those who are sanctified' (v.32) echoes Moses' blessing where the holy ones are in God's hand and Moses commands the law as 'an inheritance' for the assembly; the sanctified-ones-plus-inheritance pairing is distinctive.

Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Each receives your words. Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.


'His lot is among the saints' (the righteous numbered among the holy ones / sons of God) is a close deuterocanonical parallel to 'the inheritance among all those who are sanctified' (v.32); strong conceptual and lexical fit for the eschatological inheritance among the holy.

How was he counted among sons of God? And how is his lot among saints?


Paul's farewell protest 'I coveted no one's silver, or gold, or clothing' (v.33-34) closely mirrors Samuel's farewell self-vindication: 'Whose ox have I taken? ... from whose hand have I taken a bribe?' with the people as witnesses. Both are leaders' departure speeches asserting financial blamelessness; high structural and thematic coherence.

Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes therewith? I will restore it to you.” They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man’s hand.” He said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that […]


Moses' protest 'I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them' is a second leader's disavowal of taking from the people, reinforcing Paul's 'I coveted no one's silver or gold' (v.33).

Moses was very angry, and said to Yahweh, “Don’t respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them.”


'It is more blessed to give than to receive' (v.35) coheres with the wisdom maxim that the one who scatters increases while the one who withholds comes to want, and the generous soul is enriched; OT sapiential ground for the generosity logion.

There is one who scatters, and increases yet more. There is one who withholds more than is appropriate, but gains poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat. He who waters shall be watered also himself.


Sirach's exhortation to give to the poor and help the weak/needy is a deuterocanonical parallel to laboring 'to help the weak' and the blessedness of giving (v.35).

My son, deprive not the poor of his living, And make not the needy eyes to wait long. Make not a hungry soul sorrowful; Neither provoke a man in his distress. To a heart that is provoked add not more trouble; And defer not to give to him that is in need. Reject not a suppliant in his affliction; And turn not away your face from a poor man. Turn not away your eye from one that asks of you, And give none occasion to a man to curse you: For if he curse you […]


'They all wept a lot, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him' (v.37) reproduces the Joseph reunion idiom: falling on the neck, weeping, and kissing. The verbal cluster (neck + weeping + kiss) is distinctive Septuagintal language for emotional parting/reunion.

He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.


Esau 'fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept' is a second close parallel for the falling-on-the-neck, weeping, kissing farewell of v.37.

Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept.


Naomi's parting from her daughters-in-law, who 'lifted up their voices and wept' and 'kissed' at separation, offers a further departure-with-weeping-and-kissing resonance for v.37.

Yahweh grant you that you may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voice, and wept. They said to her, “No, but we will return with you to your people.” Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why do you want to go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? Go back, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, ‘I have hope,’ if I […]


Paul and the Tyrian disciples kneel on the beach to pray as Solomon kneels at the dedication of the temple; the gesture of kneeling for solemn prayer recalls the OT posture of supplication. Verbal volume is low (a common gesture), but the deliberate corporate kneeling at a moment of parting and danger gives the scene a liturgical coloring; thematically coherent with Israel's prayer postures.

It was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Yahweh, he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread out toward heaven.


Kneeling for prayer as a marked act of piety before adversity echoes Daniel kneeling three times a day; the connection is gestural rather than verbal, low volume, but coheres with the motif of prayer in the face of coming persecution.

When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.


The disciples warn Paul 'through the Spirit' not to go up to Jerusalem, reflecting the prophetic principle that the Lord reveals coming events to his servants; faint thematic resonance with prophetic foreknowledge rather than a verbal borrowing.

Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.


Philip's four virgin daughters 'who prophesied' enact Joel's promise that in the last days sons and daughters shall prophesy — the prophecy Peter cited programmatically at Pentecost (Acts 2). Strong thematic coherence and recurrence within Acts make this a deliberate narrative demonstration of the Joel oracle's fulfillment; verbal volume rests on the shared key term 'prophesy' applied specifically to daughters.

“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. And also on the servants and on the handmaids in those days, I will pour out my Spirit.


Female prophets are a recognized OT category — Miriam 'the prophetess' leads Israel; Philip's prophesying daughters stand in this line of Spirit-gifted women. Thematic coherence is good though there is no verbal borrowing of the Miriam scene specifically.

Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.


Huldah the prophetess, consulted as an authoritative oracle, is part of the OT pattern of recognized women prophets that Luke evokes by noting the daughters' prophetic activity; recurrence of the female-prophet motif (cf. also Isaiah 8:3, Nehemiah 6:14) supports the link, though purely thematic.

So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter); and they talked with her.


Agabus takes Paul's belt and binds his own feet and hands as an enacted oracle ('Thus says the Holy Spirit'), the classic prophetic sign-act. Jeremiah's linen loincloth/belt sign is the closest parallel both in the use of a belt/girdle as the symbolic object and in the dramatized word; high thematic coherence and notable verbal overlap in the belt as the medium of the sign.

Thus says Yahweh to me, Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water. So I bought a belt according to Yahweh’s word, and put it on my waist. Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me. After many days, Yahweh said […]


Ezekiel is bound with cords and lies bound to bear Israel's siege as a sign-act; Agabus's self-binding to portray Paul's coming bondage belongs to the same genre of embodied prophecy. Strong thematic coherence with the bound-prophet enacting another's fate; the binding motif gives solid volume.

You also, son of man, take a tile, and lay it before yourself, and portray on it a city, even Jerusalem: and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it; set camps also against it, and plant battering rams against it all around. Take for yourself an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between you and the city: and set your face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and you shall lay siege against it. This shall be a […]


Isaiah walks naked and barefoot as a sign of coming captivity 'into the hands' of a foreign power, just as Agabus's sign foretells Paul being delivered 'into the hands of the Gentiles.' Same sign-act genre with a captivity-to-foreigners content; high coherence, the verbal volume carried by the handed-over-to-Gentiles outcome.

at that time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot. Yahweh said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, […]


Ahijah tears his new garment into pieces as a prophetic sign of the kingdom's division — another instance of an enacted oracle using a garment/cloth object, supporting the sign-act background of Agabus, though less verbally specific than Jeremiah or Isaiah.

At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the way; now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field. Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces; for thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you


The yoke/bond sign-acts of Jeremiah (and Hananiah's counter-sign) belong to the same prophetic-symbol tradition of binding to dramatize coming subjugation; recurrence of the bondage-sign motif reinforces the genre Agabus invokes.

Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and broke it. Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. The prophet Jeremiah went his way.


The companions' resigned 'The Lord's will be done' closely matches Eli's 'It is the LORD; let him do what seems good to him' upon hearing an oracle of doom — submission to a revealed and unwelcome divine word. Strong thematic coherence and a near-formulaic verbal parallel of pious resignation.

Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, “It is Yahweh. Let him do what seems good to him.”


Repeated to flag the wider OT formula of submission to divine will (cf. 2 Samuel 15:26, David: 'let him do to me as seems good to him'); the recurrence of this stock phrase of acceptance strengthens the figural reading of the disciples' words.


The prophetic-disclosure formula 'Thus says the Holy Spirit' adapts the standard messenger formula 'Thus says the LORD' (pervasive in the prophets), grounding Agabus in OT prophetic speech; high recurrence of the formula across the prophets, low verbal specificity to any single text.


The four men under a vow whom Paul joins, purifying himself, paying their expenses, and completing the days of purification 'until the offering was offered,' enacts the Nazirite completion rite: shaving the head and presenting offerings at the end of the vow. High thematic coherence and strong verbal volume on shaving, purification days, and the concluding offering.

“‘This is the law of the Nazirite: when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and he shall offer his offering to Yahweh, one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering, and one ram without defect for peace offerings, and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with […]


The opening Nazirite legislation defines the vow and its requirements that the four men have taken; Paul's sponsorship presupposes the whole statute, making the broader chapter directly in view alongside the completion subsection.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Yahweh, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of fermented drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the […]


The provision for purification when a vow is interrupted/defiled underlies the act of 'purifying' oneself with the men; thematically coherent with Paul's ritual purification before entering the temple, though the text emphasizes completion more than defilement.

“‘If any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day he shall shave it. On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting. The priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead, and […]


The charge that Paul teaches Jews 'not to circumcise their children' invokes the Abrahamic covenant of circumcision; the dispute over Mosaic customs and circumcision presupposes this foundational statute. Strong thematic coherence; verbal volume on circumcision of children/offspring.

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 thousands 'zealous for the law' echo the OT ideal of zeal for the LORD's commandments embodied by Phinehas, whose zeal won a covenant of priesthood; the language of zeal for the law (cf. 1 Kings 19:10, Elijah) frames the Jerusalem believers' concern. Thematic coherence with the zeal motif, no direct quotation.

“Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. It shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of […]


James's restated decree that Gentile believers abstain from blood and from things strangled rests on the Holiness Code's prohibition of eating blood, applied to resident aliens as well as Israel. Strong thematic coherence with the apostolic council's grounding in Leviticus 17-18; verbal volume on blood.

“‘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 […]


The prohibition against idol-food in the decree ('keep themselves from food offered to idols') draws on Leviticus 17's strictures on sacrifices and on the sojourner, the resident-alien legislation widely seen as the source pool for the apostolic decree; coherent though the idol-food element also rests on broader Pentateuchal idolatry law.

“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 decree's prohibition of sexual immorality (porneia) corresponds to the Holiness Code's catalogue of forbidden unions, the fourth item commonly traced to Leviticus 18, especially as binding on the resident alien (Lev 18:26). Thematic coherence with the council's Levitical basis.

“‘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 charge that Paul 'brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place' directly engages Ezekiel's denunciation of admitting uncircumcised foreigners into the sanctuary, profaning God's house. Strong thematic coherence with the temple-defilement-by-Gentiles accusation; this is the conceptual basis of the soreg barrier the crowd believes was breached.

in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves. Thus says the Lord Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and […]


The lethal seriousness of the crowd ('trying to kill him') over an outsider entering sacred precincts reflects the Pentateuchal death sanction against the unauthorized approaching the sanctuary; thematic background to the temple's exclusion zones, low verbal volume.

When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.


The tumult in the temple courts, seizing and dragging Paul out, and the doors immediately shut faintly evoke the OT scenes of the sanctuary overrun and its gates violated; atmospheric resonance only, no verbal borrowing.

The Lord has cast off his altar, he has abhorred his sanctuary; He has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces: They have made a noise in Yahweh’s house, as in the day of a solemn assembly.


The crowd brands Paul the man who teaches 'against the people, and the law, and this place,' casting him as a troubler of Israel — the same accusation Ahab levels at Elijah ('troubler of Israel'). Faint thematic parallel of the faithful prophet charged with subverting the nation.

When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of Yahweh, and you have followed the Baals.


Paul's request to address the hostile crowd, beckoning for silence before a defense, faintly recalls the OT pattern of the divinely commissioned spokesman who must speak to a resistant people; the connection is typological and weak, with no verbal borrowing.

Moses said to Yahweh, “O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.”


Paul's speaking 'in the Hebrew language' to the people signals covenant identity and the language of Israel; Nehemiah's concern over loss of the language of Judah supplies a faint thematic backdrop to Hebrew speech as a marker of belonging, though no quotation is involved.

and their children spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the language of each people.


Paul's self-description as 'zealous for God' (v3) echoes Elijah's signature self-defense, 'I have been very zealous for the LORD' — the OT idiom of cultic zeal that justified violence against deviants, which Paul applies to his persecuting career. Coherent with the chapter's portrait of misdirected zeal; verbal contact via 'zealous.'

He said, “I have been very jealous for Yahweh, the God of Armies; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword. I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”


Phinehas' zeal that turned away wrath is the paradigm of violent piety standing behind 'zealous for God, even as you all are' — the very zealotry that drove Paul to bind men and women. Thematic only, no verbal borrowing; contested as background rather than allusion.


'the law of our fathers' (v3), anticipating 'the God of our fathers' in v14, draws on the patriarchal-covenant formula whose anchor is Exodus 3:15. Faint here; the formula lands more fully in the Ananias speech.

God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.


'instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers' rests on the Mosaic law as the ancestral inheritance of Israel; Deut 33:4 ('the law Moses commanded, the inheritance of the assembly of Jacob') supplies the conception. Background, contested.

Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.


The doubled vocative 'Saul, Saul' (v7) follows the OT pattern of urgent divine address by repeated name — 'Abraham, Abraham' at the binding of Isaac. The form signals a theophanic call/redirection. Recurs across the OT call narratives below.

Yahweh’s angel called to him out of the sky, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.”


'Moses, Moses' from the burning bush is the closest formal parallel: a doubled-name call out of blinding/luminous divine presence that commissions the hearer. Strong thematic and formal coherence with Paul's vocation-by-theophany.

When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”


'Samuel, Samuel' — doubled-name nocturnal call of the prophet who must learn the LORD's identity ('Speak, for your servant hears') just as Paul asks 'Who are you, Lord?' Reinforces the recurrence of the call-form.

Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.”


The overwhelming light/glory before which Paul 'fell to the ground' (v7) reproduces Ezekiel's response to 'the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD' — 'I fell on my face.' Theophanic glory + prostration is the shared structure inaugurating prophetic commission.

As the appearance of the rainbow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of one that spoke.


Daniel's vision: he alone sees it, his companions flee in terror, his strength fails, he falls to the ground at the voice — closely matching v7-9 where the light fells Paul, his companions see the light and are afraid but do not grasp the voice. Notable volume.

So I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.


Covenant-curse blindness ('the LORD will strike you with blindness... you shall grope at noonday') resonates with Paul struck sightless 'about noon' (v6, 11), led by the hand. Ironic inversion — judgment-blindness becomes the threshold of conversion. Contested verbal link via 'noon'/'blindness.'

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.


Ananias' 'The God of our fathers has appointed you' (v14) deploys the patriarchal covenant title fixed at the burning bush ('the God of your fathers... my name forever'), grounding Paul's commission in Israel's God. Verbal formula and thematic coherence.


'to see the Righteous One' (v14) draws on the Servant who 'shall make many to be accounted righteous,' titled the righteous one; the Suffering Servant title is applied christologically to the one Paul is to witness. Coheres with the chapter's commissioning frame.

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.


'calling on the name of the Lord' (v16) quotes the Joel formula ('everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved'), already programmatic in Acts; here bound to baptism and the washing away of sins. Clear verbal contact.

It will happen that whoever will call on Yahweh’s name shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls.


'wash away your sins' (v16) echoes 'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds' — the prophetic call to cleansing. Verbal overlap on 'wash'; thematic coherence with repentance.

Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.


'I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses' supplies the cultic-cleansing background for baptismal washing-away of sins. Contested as direct echo versus shared motif.

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.


Paul's temple vision in a trance, seeing the Lord and being sent (v17-21), maps onto Isaiah's temple theophany and commission ('I saw the Lord... Whom shall I send?... Go'). Setting (temple), visionary mode, sending command, and a hardened audience that 'will not receive' all converge — a deliberate prophetic-call form.

In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One called to another, and said, “Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!” The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was […]


'I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles' (v21) reprises the Servant's mandate to be 'a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.' Acts elsewhere quotes this verse for the Gentile mission; here it shapes the climactic sending. High thematic coherence and recurrence.

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 Servant's call ('The LORD called me from the womb... Listen, O coastlands, from far away') underlies both Paul's vocation-by-vision and the 'far away' geography of v21. Recurs with Jer 1:5 as the womb-call topos behind Pauline self-understanding.

Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name:


Jeremiah's appointment as 'a prophet to the nations' with the divine 'to all to whom I send you, you shall go' is the classic prophetic commission form mirrored in 'I will send you out... to the Gentiles' (v21). Strong formal coherence.

“Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord Yahweh! Behold, I don’t know how to speak; for I am a child.” But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.


The Lord's warning 'they will not receive testimony concerning me from you' (v18) reproduces Ezekiel's sending to a people who 'will not be willing to listen to you' — the prophet rejected by his own. Thematic and near-verbal.

But the house of Israel will not listen to you; for they will not listen to me: for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.


'I will send survivors... to the nations... to the coastlands far away, who have not heard my fame' anchors the sending-to-distant-Gentiles motif of v21. Contested as direct echo versus shared Isaianic mission theme.

“I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.


The crowd 'threw dust into the air' (v23) as a gesture of extreme distress/outrage parallels Job's friends who 'sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.' Shared mourning/protest ritual; visible volume.

When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.


The elders of Zion 'have cast dust on their heads' in grief — the OT dust gesture standing behind the mob's throwing of dust. Contested; one of several dust-ritual parallels.

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they keep silence; They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth: The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.


Mourners 'cast dust on their heads' over Tyre — another instance of the dust-throwing convention informing v23. Faint, contested.

and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust on their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:


Paul's explicit 'for it is written' citation, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people,' is a near-verbatim quotation of Exod 22:28 (LXX 22:27, 'a ruler of your people you shall not curse'). High Volume (formula + verbatim match) and high Thematic Coherence (Paul submits to the Torah he is accused of violating). Recurrence: the same verse underlies Eccl 10:20. Plausible and historically apt for a Pharisee.

“You shall not blaspheme God, nor curse a ruler of your people.


'You whitewashed wall!' draws on Ezekiel's oracle against false prophets who daub a flimsy wall with whitewash that God's storm will tear down — a metaphor for hypocritical leaders whose facade conceals coming judgment. Strong Volume (the rare 'whitewash'/wall image) and Thematic Coherence (Ananias, who orders an unlawful blow while presiding 'to judge by the law,' is exposed as a whitewashed hypocrite under judgment). Satisfaction is high: the taunt gains theological bite when heard against Ezekiel.

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one builds up a wall, behold, they plaster it with whitewash: tell those who plaster it with whitewash, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it. Behold, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the plaster with which you have plastered it? Therefore […]


Paul's protest, 'Do you sit to judge me according to the law, and command me to be struck contrary to the law?', echoes the Torah's demand for righteous, impartial judgment. Moderate Thematic Coherence (legal due process violated); lower Volume since there is no verbal borrowing, only the shared juridical ideal.

“‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.


The unlawful 'strike on the mouth' inverts Deut's regulation that corporal punishment follow a judicial verdict 'according to his wrongdoing' — here Paul is struck before any verdict. Low Volume; the link rests on the contrast between lawful and lawless beating rather than verbal echo.

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked. 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.


'I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day' resonates with the biblical ideal of walking 'before God' blamelessly (Gen 17:1; cf. 1 Kgs 9:4). Faint, idiomatic echo of covenantal integrity rather than a targeted citation; Volume is low.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.


Paul's opening claim of a clear conscience before the assembly recalls Samuel's farewell protest of blameless conduct before all Israel ('whom have I defrauded?'). Thematic parallel of a leader on trial asserting integrity; low Volume, contested.

Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes therewith? I will restore it to you.” They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything of any man’s hand.” He said to them, “Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that […]


Paul stakes his case on 'the hope and resurrection of the dead,' the doctrine that splits Pharisee from Sadducee. Dan 12:2 ('many who sleep in the dust shall awake, some to everlasting life') is the clearest OT bodily-resurrection text and the touchstone of the Pharisaic 'hope.' Strong Thematic Coherence and Recurrence (Paul ties his whole defense to this hope across Acts 23-26). Volume rests on the shared, distinctive doctrine rather than wording.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


'Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise' is a second pillar of OT resurrection hope underlying the Pharisaic confession Paul invokes. Good Thematic Coherence; medium confidence because Daniel 12 is the more direct referent and no wording is quoted.

Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.


The vision of dry bones revived contributed to Second Temple resurrection belief and may stand behind the Pharisees' confession of resurrection. Low Volume (no verbal contact); included maximally as a contributing OT stream.

The hand of Yahweh was on me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Yahweh, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass by them all around: and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and behold, they were very dry. He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I answered, Lord Yahweh, you know. Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, you dry bones, hear Yahweh’s word. Thus […]


'In my flesh I shall see God' is a classic proof-text for bodily resurrection in the very debate Paul provokes. Faint echo; cited for completeness of the resurrection-hope background.

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth. After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,


The night vision in which the Lord stands by Paul and says 'Take courage' (be of good cheer) follows the OT pattern of God commissioning a servant for a daunting journey with the charge to be strong/unafraid, classically Josh 1:6-9 at the threshold of a new mission. Medium Thematic Coherence (divine reassurance + mandate to 'go'); Volume moderate via the 'fear not / be strong' formula.

“Be strong and courageous; for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded you. Don’t turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may […]


'Do not be afraid... for I am with you to deliver you' to a prophet sent to hostile authorities closely parallels the Lord's nighttime encouragement to Paul before his testimony to kings and Rome. Good coherence with Paul's prophetic-witness role; medium confidence as a type rather than a quotation.

Don’t be afraid because of them; for I am with you to deliver you,” says Yahweh.


'That same night the LORD appeared to him and said, Do not fear, for I am with you' (to Isaac) is a tight formal parallel: a night theophany of reassurance. Low Volume but strong formal coherence; contested as a specific source.

Yahweh appeared to him the same night, and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.”


'Fear not, for I am with you' — the prototypical divine encouragement formula reflected in the Lord's 'Cheer up, Paul.' Faint, generic echo; low Volume.

Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.


The forty-plus conspirators bind themselves 'under a curse' (anathema) to eat and drink nothing until they kill Paul. This rash self-imprecatory food-oath echoes Saul's curse that no one eat until evening/until vengeance is done — an oath that scripture frames as misguided and self-entrapping. Medium Thematic Coherence (a reckless binding oath that cannot be kept); Volume rests on the shared curse-not-to-eat structure.

The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food.


'They scheme together against me, plotting to take my life' matches the conspiracy 'lying in wait' to kill Paul. The lament-of-the-righteous-pursued pattern (Psalm of David, used in Acts' passion typology for the suffering witness) gives good coherence; medium confidence as thematic echo.

For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.


'Let us lie in wait for blood... swift to shed blood' portrays the bloodthirsty ambush the forty plan. Sapiential portrait of murderous conspirators; low Volume, no quotation, but apt coherence.

If they say, “Come with us, Let’s lay in wait for blood; let’s lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; let’s swallow them up alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down into the pit. We’ll find all valuable wealth. We’ll fill our houses with plunder. You shall cast your lot among us. We’ll all have one purse.” My son, don’t walk on the path with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil. They hurry to shed blood.


The wicked who 'lurks in ambush... to seize the poor' mirrors the men who 'lie in wait' for Paul. Generic lament imagery of the ambushing wicked; faint echo, included maximally.

He lies in wait near the villages. From ambushes, he murders the innocent. His eyes are secretly set against the helpless. He lurks in secret as a lion in his ambush. He lies in wait to catch the helpless. He catches the helpless, when he draws him in his net.


Lysias' elaborate night convoy (two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen) brings Paul 'safely' to Felix, thwarting the sworn plot — a narrative enactment of 'no wisdom or counsel can avail against the LORD; the horse is made ready for battle, but victory belongs to the LORD.' Low Volume, thematic/providential coherence with the divine assurance of v.11.

There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Yahweh. The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with Yahweh.


Paul's deliverance from violent enemies by armed rescue and removal to safety faintly echoes the deliverance-from-foes language of the royal/Davidic psalms ('you delivered me from my enemies... from the violent man'). Generic providence echo; low confidence, contested.

He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.


Tertullus and the elders bring formal, hostile charges against Paul before the governor; the situation of the righteous man delivered up to the will of false, violent accusers echoes the psalmist's cry against 'false witnesses' who 'breathe out cruelty.' Thematically coherent with the Lukan figural pattern of the just sufferer hauled before rulers; verbal volume is low, so echo rather than allusion.

Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.


'Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things I know not.' The hired orator's manufactured indictment ('a plague,' 'instigator of insurrections,' temple-profaner) fits the lament topos of the innocent assailed by lying accusers. Recurs across Luke-Acts; no direct quotation, hence echo.

Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.


Paul is denounced as ringleader of 'the sect of the Nazarenes.' The title Nazarene is widely traced to the messianic netzer ('branch') of Isaiah's stump-of-Jesse oracle; the accusation thus carries, ironically, a hidden scriptural-messianic claim. Contested and indirect, voiced by opponents, so low confidence.

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


'Wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me... they encircle me with words of hatred.' The choreographed, flattering-then-accusing speech of Tertullus, joined by the assembled Jews, resonates with the imprecatory lament against encircling slanderers. Faint, no shared diction.

for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.


Paul stresses he went up 'to worship at Jerusalem' only days before, a pious pilgrim, not an agitator; the pilgrimage-to-Zion frame faintly recalls the Songs of Ascents ('let us go to the house of the LORD'). Thematic only, no verbal borrowing.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!”


'Nor can they prove to you the things of which they accuse me' anticipates Paul's evidentiary appeal; the Deuteronomic rule that a charge stands only on established proof / multiple witnesses underlies his demand. Developed more fully in 24:19; here only incipient, hence low.

One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.


Paul confesses he serves 'the God of our fathers' (ho theos ton pateron), the covenant self-designation given at the burning bush, 'the God of your fathers... my memorial to all generations.' High thematic coherence and recurrent formula; standard Septuagintal idiom Paul deliberately claims to assert continuity, not novelty.

God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.


'There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust' closely tracks Daniel's 'many who sleep in the dust shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt' — the locus classicus for a two-fold resurrection of righteous and wicked. High volume and thematic coherence; the bifurcation just/unjust is distinctively Danielic.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


'Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise... the earth will give birth to the dead.' Paul's hope of bodily resurrection draws on this prophetic resurrection text alongside Daniel; supports the claim that his hope rests on 'the law and the prophets.' Medium: real thematic match, less verbal proximity than Daniel.

Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast out the departed spirits.


'We cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers' — the credal recital tying worship to the ancestral God reinforces Paul's 'God of our fathers' framing as covenant fidelity. Faint, overlaps with the Exodus 3:15 idiom.

Then we cried to Yahweh, the God of our fathers. Yahweh heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.


'They ought to have been here before you, and to make accusation' — Paul invokes the legal principle that accusers must appear and a charge requires proper witnesses; the absent Asian Jews cannot satisfy the Deuteronomic requirement. Coherent with Mosaic judicial procedure; medium.


Paul was 'found purified in the temple' with offerings; this reflects completion of a Nazirite-style vow of purification (cf. Acts 21:23-26), the rite of Numbers 6 requiring offerings at the sanctuary. Concrete ritual referent; medium.

“‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall come on his head, until the days are fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Yahweh. He shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.


Paul came 'to bring gifts for the needy to my nation' — almsgiving to the poor reflects the Torah's command to open the hand to the needy. Thematic, no verbal link.

For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.


Paul reiterates that he is on trial 'concerning the resurrection of the dead,' recurring to the same Danielic hope voiced in 24:15; recurrence within the chapter strengthens the link. Echo here since the topic is named without restating the just/unjust formula.


Felix keeps Paul in custody but grants him privileges and freedom to receive his friends — the imprisoned righteous man shown favor while detained typologically recalls Joseph, to whom the LORD gave favor in the prison-keeper's sight. No verbal borrowing; figural pattern of the just one preserved in confinement.

But Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.


As Paul reasons about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, the ruler Felix 'was terrified' — recalling Belshazzar, before whom the prophetic word made the king's countenance change and his knees knock. The motif of God's spokesman striking dread into a powerful but compromised ruler is typologically apt; medium for thematic coherence.

Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.