Acts of the Apostles

The Acts of the Apostles is the continuation of Luke's Gospel by the same author, written in Greek in the later first century AD and addressed to the same Theophilus. It tells how the Christian movement spread from Jerusalem to Rome in the thirty years after Jesus' death. The Vulgate text of Acts is a late fourth-century revision of the older Latin versions, usually thought to be by a reviser other than Jerome.

After the ascension the apostles choose Matthias to replace Judas, and at Pentecost receive the Holy Spirit and speak in many tongues. Peter preaches, heals a lame man and is brought with John before the council; Ananias and Sapphira die for their deceit. Stephen, one of the seven chosen to serve the community, is stoned after a long speech, and the persecution scatters the believers: Philip preaches in Samaria and baptises an Ethiopian official, Saul is converted on the road to Damascus, and Peter baptises the centurion Cornelius. Herod Agrippa imprisons Peter, who is freed by an angel. The second half follows Paul: his journeys with Barnabas and then Silas through Cyprus, Asia Minor and Greece, the council at Jerusalem, his speech in Athens, his stays at Corinth and Ephesus and the silversmiths' riot. Arrested in Jerusalem, he defends himself before the people, the council, the governors Felix and Festus and King Agrippa, appeals to Caesar and is shipwrecked on Malta on the voyage to Rome.

Acts is a fast-moving narrative with speeches and travel, and the Latin is straightforward.