Acts 9
BSASBSaul, the fiercest enemy of the church, is stopped by the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. He is healed, baptized and begins preaching the very faith he tried to destroy. The chapter then follows Peter, whom God uses to heal Aeneas and raise Tabitha, while the church enjoys a season of peace and growth.
Acts 9:1-2
Saul’s hatred has not cooled. He asks the high priest for letters of authority to the Damascus synagogues so that he can arrest believers, men and women alike, and bring them to Jerusalem. He means to stamp out the new movement by force.
BSA: threats (“and slaughter, intense violence”): Saul’s anger was not just talk; it aimed at bloodshed. Way (“the path of Jesus, the Christian faith”): Believers were known by a name that describes a whole manner of life, not just a set of beliefs.
Greek: ἐμπνέων (empneōn, G1709) — “breathing in, breathing out.” Threats and murder were as natural to Saul as breathing. He lived in them.
See also: Acts 8:3.
Acts 9:3
Near Damascus, with no warning, a light from heaven blazes around Saul. God steps into the middle of his mission. Saul had set out with authority from men, and he is now stopped by the authority of heaven.
BSA: light (“divine illumination, radiant beam”): This was no ordinary brightness; it was the glory of God breaking in on Saul.
See also: Acts 22:6; Acts 26:13.
Acts 9:4
Saul falls to the ground and hears his name spoken twice, a tender, urgent call. Jesus does not ask why Saul persecutes His people but why Saul persecutes Me. Christ counts the suffering of His followers as His own.
BSA: persecute (“pursue, follow with hostile intent”): The word pictures a hunter chasing prey, which is how Saul had treated believers.
Greek: διώκεις (diōkeis, G1377) — “you pursue, you hunt down.” The Greek word is used of chasing someone. Saul was running down Christians, and Jesus says he was in fact running down Him.
See also: Matthew 25:40.
Acts 9:5-6
Saul asks who is speaking, and calls Him Lord before he knows the answer. The reply is startling: I am Jesus. The Man Saul thought dead is alive and in glory. Saul is given no lecture, only a simple order to go on and wait for instructions.
BSA: persecuting (“pursuing, harassing”): The ongoing action shows that Saul’s campaign was a steady, deliberate effort that Jesus now stops.
Acts 9:7
Saul’s companions stand frozen. They hear the sound of a voice but see no one. They share in the event enough to prove it was real, yet the meeting itself was meant for Saul alone.
See also: Acts 22:9.
Acts 9:8-9
The proud inquisitor is led by the hand like a child. For three days he is blind and does not eat or drink. It is a time of silence and shock, in which everything he believed has been overturned and he must face who Jesus really is.
BSA: led (“guided, conducted”): The man who came to lead others away in chains now has to be guided by others. sight (“physical or spiritual perception”): His blindness of body matches the blindness of heart that he is about to leave behind.
Acts 9:10
God now turns to an ordinary disciple in Damascus, Ananias. The Lord calls him by name in a vision. Ananias answers at once, ready to listen. God often works through little-known believers who simply say yes.
BSA: vision (“a supernatural sight, a divine revelation”): The Lord Himself made the matter plain, so Ananias knew this was no mere dream.
Acts 9:11-12
The Lord gives exact directions: the house of Judas on Straight Street, a man from Tarsus named Saul. Saul is praying, and the Lord has already shown him a vision of Ananias coming to heal him. God has prepared both men before they meet.
BSA: praying (“to pray, worship, communicate with God”): The proud persecutor is now speaking to God, which shows the change that has begun in him.
Acts 9:13-14
Ananias honestly objects. He has heard of the harm Saul has done to Christ’s people and knows Saul has come with authority to arrest them. His fear is reasonable. The Lord does not scold him, and Ananias is free to bring his worry to the Lord.
BSA: saints (“holy ones, set apart believers”): Believers are called holy because they belong to God, not because they are perfect. call on (“invoke, appeal to”): Christians are described as people who pray to Jesus for help, treating Him as Lord.
See also: Acts 2:21.
Acts 9:15-16
The Lord answers with one word: Go. Saul is a chosen instrument who will carry Christ’s name to Gentiles, kings and Israel. The call comes with a cost, since Saul must suffer for Jesus’ sake. Grace here comes with both a mission and a cross.
BSA: instrument (“vessel, tool”): Saul is God’s chosen container, filled with the name of Christ and carried to the world. suffer (“experience pain, endure hardship”): The man who caused others to suffer will himself endure hardship for Christ.
Greek: σκεῦος ἐκλογῆς (skeuos eklogēs, G4632) — “a chosen vessel.” A skeuos is a vessel or tool for use. Saul is picked out by God to be carried in His hand and to carry His name.
See also: Galatians 1:15-16; 2 Corinthians 11:23-28.
Acts 9:17
Ananias obeys, lays his hands on Saul and calls him Brother. The enemy is welcomed as family. Ananias says the Lord Jesus sent him so that Saul may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
BSA: Brother (“fellow believer, dear friend”): Ananias welcomes Saul before Saul has done anything to prove himself.
Greek: ἀδελφέ (adelphe, G80) — “brother.” This is a family word. It shows how fully Ananias received Saul as a fellow member of God’s household.
Acts 9:18-19
Something like scales falls from Saul’s eyes, and he sees. He rises and is baptized, publicly joining the people he opposed. After eating he regains his strength and spends days among the disciples. His new life begins within the fellowship of the church.
BSA: baptized (“immersed, submerged in water”): Baptism pictures going down into water and rising, the outward sign of a new beginning.
Greek: λεπίδες (lepides, G3013) — “scales, flakes.” The word is used of fish scales. Luke describes what it looked like as the blindness fell away from Saul’s eyes.
Acts 9:20-21
Saul wastes no time. In the very synagogues he meant to raid, he proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God. The listeners are amazed, for this is the same man who tried to destroy believers. Nothing but real change could explain it.
BSA: astounded (“amazed, utterly shocked”): The hearers were stunned by how complete the turnaround was.
See also: Galatians 1:23.
Acts 9:22
Saul grows stronger and bolder, and he leaves his Jewish opponents in Damascus without an answer. He reasons from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah.
BSA: confounded (“confused, stirred up”): His arguments left his opponents unsettled and unable to reply. proving (“showing, demonstrating”): Saul laid out evidence step by step, not just claims.
Greek: συμβιβάζων (symbibazōn, G4822) — “bringing together, putting side by side.” Saul placed the prophecies beside what Jesus did and showed that they fit as one.
Acts 9:23-25
After many days, a plot to kill Saul forms, and the city gates are watched. Learning of it, his disciples lower him over the wall at night in a basket. Saul, who was powerful, escapes in a humbling way, and that is a mark of his new life.
BSA: basket (“a flexible container, a woven vessel”): He was let down in a simple woven container, which shows how undignified and desperate the escape was.
Greek: σπυρίδι (spyridi, G4711) — “a woven basket.” This is a large basket of the kind used to carry provisions, big enough to hold a man.
See also: 2 Corinthians 11:32-33.
Acts 9:26
In Jerusalem the disciples are afraid of Saul and refuse to believe he is one of them. Their fear is understandable, given his past. Even a true conversion may need time and a trustworthy friend before others accept it.
BSA: afraid (“in awe, fearful”): They feared him, remembering how he once treated believers.
Acts 9:27
Barnabas steps forward. He takes Saul to the apostles and tells them how Saul met the Lord on the road and spoke boldly in Jesus’ name in Damascus. Barnabas’s name means Son of Encouragement, and here he lives up to it by vouching for a man others feared.
BSA: boldly (“with confidence, without fear”): Saul’s open speaking was the evidence Barnabas could point to as proof of a real change.
Greek: ἐπαρρησιάσατο (eparrēsiasato, G3955) — “spoke freely and openly.” The word means speaking out with nothing hidden, even when it is risky.
See also: Acts 4:36.
Acts 9:28-29
Now accepted, Saul goes in and out among the believers and speaks boldly in the Lord’s name. He debates with the Greek-speaking Jews, who may once have been his own circle, and they try to kill him. His faith costs him as the Lord had said.
BSA: freely (“without fear, confidently”): He moved about openly, not hiding.
See also: Acts 9:16.
Acts 9:30
The brothers take him to the coast at Caesarea and send him home to Tarsus. This protects his life and keeps him from stirring more trouble. Paul would later be brought back into the work, but for now he waits quietly in his home city.
See also: Galatians 1:21; Acts 11:25-26.
Acts 9:31
With their great persecutor gone from the scene, the church across Judea, Galilee and Samaria has peace. It is not idle: it grows in strength and in numbers, walking in reverence for the Lord and comforted by the Holy Spirit.
BSA: encouragement (“comfort, solace”): The Spirit comforts believers and also strengthens them for what lies ahead. peace (“harmony, tranquility”): It was a time of rest from persecution, in which the church could build up.
Greek: παρακλήσει (paraklēsei, G3874) — “encouragement, comfort, calling alongside.” This word is related to the Spirit’s title as Helper, the one who comes alongside.
See also: John 14:26.
Acts 9:32-33
Peter travels among the believers and comes to Lydda, where he finds Aeneas, who has been paralyzed and bedridden for eight years. The apostle, who goes to visit the saints, meets a man in long need, with no mention of any request.
BSA: paralyzed (“weak, crippled, palsied”): Aeneas could not move or help himself at all.
Acts 9:34
Peter does not claim the power as his own. He says that Jesus Christ heals you. Then he tells Aeneas to get up and roll up his mat. At once Aeneas rises, and the healing is plain for all to see.
BSA: heals (“makes whole, restores to health”): Jesus does not only help a man; He restores him fully.
See also: Acts 3:6; Luke 5:24-25.
Acts 9:35
People in Lydda and the plain of Sharon see Aeneas walking and turn to the Lord. The miracle points beyond itself to Jesus. In this account it leads many to faith.
BSA: turned (“reverted, converted”): They turned away from their old way and toward the Lord.
Acts 9:36
In Joppa lives a disciple named Tabitha, in Greek Dorcas, both meaning gazelle. She is known for good works and for giving to the poor. Her faith shows itself in what she does with her hands and her goods.
BSA: kindness (“good, benevolent”): Her good deeds came from a kind heart. charity (“alms, generosity to the poor”): She gave real help to those in need.
See also: James 2:14-17.
Acts 9:37-38
Tabitha falls ill and dies. Her body is washed and laid in an upstairs room. Hearing that Peter is nearby in Lydda, the disciples send two men to plead with him to come quickly. They are sorrowful but still hope.
BSA: upper room (“upper chamber, private space”): The body lay in a quiet room upstairs while the mourners gathered.
Acts 9:39
Peter goes with them. The widows stand weeping around him, showing the coats and clothing Dorcas had made. Her love is clear from what she left behind. They are grieving a woman who served them.
BSA: widows (“women who had lost their husbands”): These women had few to depend on, and Dorcas had cared for them.
Acts 9:40
Peter sends everyone out, kneels and prays. Then he turns to the body and says, Tabitha, get up! She opens her eyes and sits up. Peter relies on God in prayer, and he speaks to her as Jesus once did to a dead girl.
BSA: get up (“arise, stand up, come back to life”): The command is to rise from death itself, not merely from a bed.
Greek: ἀνάστηθι (anastēthi, G450) — “rise, stand up.” This is the same word used for resurrection, which fits the moment: a dead woman is called back to life.
See also: Mark 5:41-42.
Acts 9:41
Peter takes her hand, lifts her up and presents her alive to the believers and widows. The joy in that room must have been great. God gave a gift of life back to a woman, and to the poor who loved her.
BSA: alive (“restored her to life, living”): The same woman they had mourned was now truly alive in front of them.
Acts 9:42-43
News spreads across Joppa, and many believe in the Lord. Peter stays on with Simon, a tanner. A tanner worked with dead animals, which made him unclean to strict Jews, so Peter’s stay hints at the wider welcome to come.
BSA: tanner (“one who works with animal hides, a leather-worker”): His trade made him ceremonially unclean, so Peter’s lodging there signals a loosening of old barriers.
See also: Acts 10:6.