Book of Acts KJV
The Acts of the Apostles is the story of the early church — how the gospel spread from Jerusalem to Rome through the power of the Holy Spirit. Every chapter is linked below, from Acts 1 to Acts 28 in the King James Version, followed by the three passages people come to this book for — Pentecost, the Damascus road, and the Philippian jailer — and a line on what happens in each chapter. Looking for a specific word or phrase? Search all three translations.
Verse of the Day →
Today’s KJV verse with a short note on what it means — a new one each day.
The Great Commission →
Matthew 28:18-20, the charge Acts 1:8 repeats and the rest of the book carries out.
Browse All 28 Chapters of Acts (KJV)
Every chapter of Acts, in order. Select a chapter to read its full King James text with verse numbers.
Acts 2 (KJV) — The Day of Pentecost
The church is born. The Spirit promised in Acts 1:8 falls on the disciples in Jerusalem, Peter preaches to a crowd drawn by the noise, and about three thousand are baptized that day.
The coming of the Holy Ghost — wind, fire, and other tongues — on the feast day fifty days after Passover.
Acts 2:1-4Peter's answer to the crowd that asks what it should do, and the verse most often quoted from the chapter.
Acts 2:38Acts 9 (KJV) — The Damascus Road
Saul is on his way to arrest believers when the light stops him. It is the turn on which the second half of the book runs — the persecutor becomes the apostle who carries the gospel to the Gentiles.
Told three times in Acts — here as it happens, then by Paul himself before the crowd in Acts 22 and before Agrippa in Acts 26.
Acts 9:3-6Acts 16 (KJV) — The Philippian Jailer
Paul and Silas are beaten and jailed at Philippi. At midnight they are singing when an earthquake opens every door, and the jailer — sure his prisoners are gone — asks the question the whole book has been answering.
The plainest statement of the gospel in Acts, given to a man who had just been ready to kill himself.
Acts 16:30-31The same 28 chapters as the grid above, each with a line on what happens in it — for the reader who remembers the scene but not the number. Follow any heading to read that chapter in full.
Acts Chapter 1 KJV
26 verses
Luke's second volume opens with forty days of resurrection appearances, the promise of the Holy Ghost and the commission of Acts 1:8, the ascension, and the choosing of Matthias in Judas' place.
Acts Chapter 2 KJV
47 verses
The day of Pentecost — a rushing mighty wind, cloven tongues like as of fire, Peter's sermon, and about three thousand souls added. The new church continues in doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayers.
Acts Chapter 3 KJV
26 verses
Peter and John heal a man lame from birth at the gate called Beautiful — “Silver and gold have I none” — and Peter preaches to the astonished crowd in Solomon's porch.
Acts Chapter 4 KJV
37 verses
The two apostles are arrested and questioned by the rulers, who hear that there is “none other name under heaven” whereby we must be saved. The church prays for boldness and the place is shaken.
Acts Chapter 5 KJV
42 verses
Ananias and Sapphira lie about the price of their land and fall dead; the apostles are jailed, led out by an angel in the night, and Gamaliel persuades the council to let them alone.
Acts Chapter 6 KJV
15 verses
A complaint about the daily ministration leads to the choosing of seven men to serve tables, Stephen among them — and Stephen is seized on the word of suborned witnesses.
Acts Chapter 7 KJV
60 verses
Stephen's defence retells Israel's story from Abraham to Solomon's temple and ends in his stoning, with the witnesses' clothes laid at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts Chapter 8 KJV
40 verses
Persecution scatters the church: Philip preaches in Samaria, Simon the sorcerer offers money for the gift of the Spirit, and Philip explains Isaiah to the Ethiopian eunuch on the desert road to Gaza.
Acts Chapter 9 KJV
43 verses
The light on the Damascus road, Ananias sent to Saul, and Saul's baptism and first preaching — then Peter heals Aeneas at Lydda and raises Tabitha at Joppa.
Acts Chapter 10 KJV
48 verses
Cornelius the centurion sends for Peter, who has seen a sheet let down from heaven; while Peter is still speaking the Holy Ghost falls on the Gentiles who hear him, and they are baptized.
Acts Chapter 11 KJV
30 verses
Peter answers the Jerusalem church for eating with Gentiles, the disciples are called Christians first at Antioch, and relief is sent to Judaea when Agabus foretells a famine.
Acts Chapter 12 KJV
25 verses
Herod kills James with the sword and imprisons Peter, whom an angel leads past the iron gate that opens of its own accord — and Rhoda, for gladness, leaves him knocking at the door.
Acts Chapter 13 KJV
52 verses
The Holy Ghost separates Barnabas and Saul for the work: Cyprus and the blinding of Elymas, then Paul's synagogue sermon at Antioch in Pisidia and his turning to the Gentiles.
Acts Chapter 14 KJV
28 verses
At Lystra a lame man is healed and the crowd takes Barnabas for Jupiter and Paul for Mercurius, then stones Paul and drags him out for dead. They return through the cities ordaining elders.
Acts Chapter 15 KJV
41 verses
The council at Jerusalem settles whether Gentile believers must be circumcised; James gives the sentence and a letter goes out to the churches. Paul and Barnabas then part company over John Mark.
Acts Chapter 16 KJV
40 verses
Timothy joins Paul, a vision calls them into Macedonia, Lydia is converted at Philippi — and after the midnight earthquake the jailer asks what he must do to be saved.
Acts Chapter 17 KJV
34 verses
Uproar at Thessalonica, the noble Bereans who searched the scriptures daily, and Paul on Mars' hill declaring to the Athenians the God they had inscribed as unknown.
Acts Chapter 18 KJV
28 verses
A year and six months at Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla, tentmakers by the same trade; Gallio refuses to judge the case, and Apollos is taught the way of God more perfectly.
Acts Chapter 19 KJV
41 verses
Two years at Ephesus: disciples receive the Holy Ghost, the seven sons of Sceva are overpowered, books of curious arts are burned, and the silversmiths raise a riot for Diana.
Acts Chapter 20 KJV
38 verses
Eutychus sleeps through a long sermon at Troas, falls from the third loft and is taken up alive; at Miletus Paul takes his leave of the Ephesian elders — “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Acts Chapter 21 KJV
40 verses
Warnings follow Paul all the way to Jerusalem — Agabus binds his own hands with Paul's girdle — and the temple crowd seizes him until the chief captain's soldiers pull him out.
Acts Chapter 22 KJV
30 verses
Paul addresses the mob from the stairs in Hebrew, telling of his upbringing at Gamaliel's feet and of the Damascus road; the scourging is called off when he says he was free born a Roman.
Acts Chapter 23 KJV
35 verses
Before the council Paul divides Pharisees from Sadducees over the resurrection; forty men bind themselves under a curse to kill him, and he is sent by night under guard to Felix at Caesarea.
Acts Chapter 24 KJV
27 verses
Tertullus lays the charges before Felix and Paul answers them, reasoning of righteousness and judgment until Felix trembles — and then leaves him bound for two years.
Acts Chapter 25 KJV
27 verses
Festus succeeds Felix and reopens the case. Rather than be tried at Jerusalem, Paul appeals unto Caesar, and Agrippa and Bernice come to Caesarea to hear him.
Acts Chapter 26 KJV
32 verses
Paul's defence before Agrippa — the third telling of the Damascus road — and Agrippa's reply: “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
Acts Chapter 27 KJV
44 verses
The voyage to Rome: the ship caught in the tempest called Euroclydon, driven fourteen nights, the tackling cast out, and every soul brought safe to land.
Acts Chapter 28 KJV
31 verses
Shaken off unharmed after a viper fastens on his hand at Melita, Paul heals the father of Publius, reaches Rome, and preaches the kingdom of God two whole years in his own hired house.
Most-Searched Verses in Acts
Beyond the three passages above, these are the single verses people most often come to Acts looking for. Each links to its full chapter in the KJV.
The risen Christ's commission and the outline of the whole book — the gospel moving from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8Peter before the Sanhedrin, declaring that salvation is found in no name but that of Jesus Christ.
Acts 4:12Peter to the lame man at the gate called Beautiful, in the first healing after Pentecost.
Acts 3:6The apostles' answer when the council forbids them to teach — the sentence quoted in every conflict between conscience and command since.
Acts 5:29The Bereans, commended for checking the preaching against the scriptures rather than taking it on trust.
Acts 17:11From Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders, quoting a saying of Jesus recorded nowhere else in Scripture.
Acts 20:35About the Book of Acts
Author.Acts is traditionally attributed to Luke, the physician and travelling companion of the Apostle Paul. It is the second half of a two-volume work — the Gospel of Luke and Acts — both addressed to a reader named Theophilus. The Gospel records what Jesus “began both to do and teach”; Acts continues the story through his followers.
Date. The book is most often dated to the second half of the first century, roughly AD 62 to 90. It closes with Paul under house arrest in Rome, awaiting trial.
Structure. The first twelve chapters follow Peter and the church in Jerusalem, Samaria, and Antioch; from Acts 13 the book follows Paul on three missionary journeys, and the last eight chapters are taken up with his arrest, his defences before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa, and the voyage that ends in Rome.
Themes.Acts follows the outline Jesus gives in Acts 1:8 — witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Its great themes are the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the birth and growth of the church, the preaching of Peter and Paul, the mission to the Gentiles, and the unstoppable advance of the gospel despite opposition.
A verse a day
Verse of the Day (KJV)
One King James verse each day, with a short note on the passage it comes from and a link straight to the full chapter. It changes at midnight.
Read today’s verse →Recommended reading
KJV study & journaling Bibles
Everything on this page is free to read. If you want Acts in print, these are the two King James editions worth knowing about — one with study notes, one with room to write.
KJV Study Bible
Thomas Nelson, Holman and other editions
The King James text with study notes, book introductions, and maps — useful in Acts above all, where the story moves through a dozen provinces and three missionary journeys.
KJV Journaling Bible
Wide-margin and notetaking editions
Ruled margins beside the King James text — room to trace the journeys and sermons as you read through the 28 chapters of Acts.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Book of Acts about?
Acts tells the story of the early church from the ascension of Jesus to Paul's imprisonment in Rome. It opens with the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2), follows the apostles as they preach and heal in Jerusalem, and traces the gospel spreading through Judaea, Samaria, and the wider Roman world — fulfilling the pattern Jesus gives in Acts 1:8. Its full title is the Acts of the Apostles, and it has 28 chapters.
Who wrote the Book of Acts and when?
Acts is traditionally attributed to Luke, the physician and companion of the Apostle Paul. It is the second volume of a two-part work — the Gospel of Luke and Acts — both addressed to a reader named Theophilus. Scholars commonly date its composition to the second half of the first century, roughly AD 62 to 90.
What happens in Acts chapter 2?
Acts 2 records the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost fills the disciples and they speak in other tongues. Peter preaches to the gathered crowd, and in Acts 2:38 he calls them to “repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” About three thousand people are added to the church that day.
What happens in Acts chapter 9?
Acts 9 is the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. On the road to Damascus, carrying letters authorising him to arrest believers, a light from heaven strikes him down and a voice asks, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” He is led blind into the city, where a disciple named Ananias is sent to him; he receives his sight, is baptized, and begins preaching in the synagogues. The chapter closes with Peter healing Aeneas at Lydda and raising Tabitha at Joppa.
What does Acts 16:31 mean by “what must I do to be saved”?
The question is the Philippian jailer's, asked after an earthquake shook open the prison where Paul and Silas were held (Acts 16:30). Their answer is Acts 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.” It is the shortest statement of the gospel in Acts — salvation offered on the condition of faith in Christ — and the jailer washes their stripes and is baptized the same night.