Acts 3 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecomparativecontentphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The healing at the Beautiful Gate 3:1–10

vv. 1–3 — the scene: the ninth hour, the gate, the beggar's request

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.independent — scene-setting — progressive imperfect ἀνέβαινον; the ninth hour (3 p.m.), the hour of the afternoon Tamid sacrifice

And a certain man, lame from his mother's womb, was being carried,independent — new participant — congenital lameness (ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός, cf. 14:8); the passive, his total dependence

whom they placed every day at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful,relative — iterative imperfect — the daily routine; the Beautiful Gate, probably the Nicanor Gate (Josephus, War 5.5.3)

to ask alms from those entering the temple.purpose — τοῦ + infinitive of purpose — a begging post at the worshippers' choke-point

He, seeing Peter and John about to enter the temple,participial — preposed aorist participle — leans on ἠρώτα; connective ὅς; μέλλοντας catches them mid-approach

began asking to receive alms.independent — inceptive imperfect — the routine petition; what he asks is coin

vv. 4–6 — the exchange: look at us; what I have I give you

But Peter, fixing his gaze on him together with John,participial — preposed — ἀτενίζω, the Lucan stare (1:10; 6:15; 7:55); leans on εἶπεν

said,independent — the speech-frame

'Look at us.'content — aorist imperative — attention demanded before the gift

And he fixed his attention on them,independent — progressive imperfect — ἐπέχω with dative, sustained attention; only here in Acts

expecting to receive something from them.participial — causal participle — the expectation about to be redirected: he awaits coin, receives healing

But Peter said,independent — the frame for the healing word

'Silver and gold I do not have,content — the disclaimer — ὑπάρχει with dative of possession; all monetary wealth denied

but what I have, this I give you:content — fronted headless relative resumed by τοῦτό — performative present δίδωμι, the gift enacted in the saying

in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.'content — the chapter's hinge — the name bearing the exalted Lord's authority (v. 16; 4:10); paired present imperatives

vv. 7–10 — the healing: raised, leaping, recognized

And taking him by the right hand,participial — preposed — leans on ἤγειρεν; the grasp the point of contact (Isa 41:13, 'I take you by the right hand')

he raised him up;independent — ἐγείρω — the healing verb is the resurrection verb (vv. 15, 26; 4:10)

and immediately his feet and his ankles were made strong,independent — divine passive; παραχρῆμα the Lucan mark of instantaneous cure; βάσεις and σφυδρά (NT hapax) medical vocabulary

And leaping upparticipial — preposed — leans on ἔστη; ἐξάλλομαι, NT hapax: he sprang up from his begging place

he stoodindependent — ingressive aorist — he who had never stood, stood

and began walking,independent — inceptive imperfect — v. 6's command περιπάτει obeyed

and he entered the temple with them,independent — the man who sat outside comes in — restored to the worshipping community

walking and leaping and praising God.participial — triple participle of manner — ἁλλόμενος fulfils Isa 35:6 LXX ('the lame man will leap like a deer'); praise to God, not Peter

And all the people saw himindependent — πᾶς ὁ λαός — the public, undeniable witness

walking and praising God,participial — supplementary participles — what they saw: v. 8's acts repeated verbatim

and they recognized him,independent — imperfect — the dawning recognition

that he was the one who used to sit for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple,content — ὅτι-content — the identification that makes the miracle undeniable

and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.independent — the Lucan wonder-formula — the crowd the sermon will address

Peter in Solomon's Portico: the God of the fathers glorified his Servant 3:11–26

vv. 11–12 — the frame: the crowd runs together, Peter answers

While he was holding on to Peter and John,participial — genitive absolute — forward-leaning on συνέδραμεν; the healed man clings to his healers

all the people ran together toward them at the portico called Solomon's, utterly astounded.independent — constructio ad sensum — plural ἔκθαμβοι with collective λαός; Σολομῶντος the better-attested genitive

And seeing this, Peterparticipial — preposed — leans on ἀπεκρίνατο; what he sees is the staring crowd

addressed the people:independent — ἀποκρίνομαι answering a situation, not a question — the whole sermon (vv. 12–26) hangs on this one frame

vv. 12–16 — why do you stare at us? God glorified his Servant, whom you denied

'Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this,content — the opening rebuke — vocative address (cf. 2:22), the wonder misdirected

or why do you stare at us,content — the crowd's ἀτενίζω — v. 4's verb turned back on the starers; fronted ἡμῖν

as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?comparative — ὡς + dative participle — the false inference disowned; τοῦ περιπατεῖν epexegetic of the deed

The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his Servant Jesus,content — Exod 3:6, 15 — the patriarchal formula; παῖς the Isaianic Servant (Isa 52:13 LXX ἐδοξάσθη), explicit only here and v. 26 in Acts

whom you handed overrelative — emphatic ὑμεῖς — the indictment begins; μέν anticipating God's reversal (v. 15)

and denied him in the presence of Pilate,relative — coordinate in the relative — ἀρνέομαι, the disowning verb, doubled at v. 14

though he had decided to release him.participial — genitive absolute, concessive — the pagan judge acquits where Israel disowns (Luke 23:16)

But you denied the Holy and Righteous One,content — the antitheses sharpen — messianic titles (Isa 53:11's Righteous One; Ps 16:10's Holy One, cf. 2:27)

and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,content — Barabbas unnamed (Luke 23:18–19, 25) — a killer preferred to the Righteous One

but you killed the Author of life,content — the paradox — ἀρχηγός ('author, pioneer, prince'): the Life-giver killed; fronted object for maximum irony

whom God raised from the dead,relative — the reversal — God against your verdict; the kerygmatic core (2:24; 4:10)

of which we are witnesses.relative — οὗ — 'of which' (the raising) or 'of whom'; the apostolic witness-formula (1:8; 2:32)

And on the basis of faith in his name, his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know;content — tangled but emphatic — 'the name' frames the clause; ἐστερέωσεν echoes v. 7's ἐστερεώθησαν; internal relative kept in line

and the faith that is through him has given him this perfect health before all of you.content — ἡ πίστις ἡ δι᾽ αὐτοῦ — even the faith is Christ-given; ὁλοκληρία NT hapax, complete soundness

vv. 17–21 — the appeal: you acted in ignorance; repent, that the times of refreshing may come

And now, brothers, I knowcontent — καὶ νῦν — the pivot from indictment to appeal; ἀδελφοί softens the address

that you acted in ignorance,content — the ἄγνοια concession — not exculpatory but door-opening (cf. Luke 23:34; Acts 17:30)

as did your rulers also;comparative — elliptical — even the rulers share the ignorance (cf. 1 Cor 2:8)

but what God announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets — that his Christ would suffer — he has thus fulfilled.content — the divine counterpoint — internal relative ἃ with epexegetic παθεῖν; the suffering Messiah, the scandal, was scripted

Repent therefore,content — the οὖν of application — the sermon's demand (cf. 2:38)

and turn back,content — ἐπιστρέφω — conversion language, the prophets' 'return' (shuv)

so that your sins may be wiped out,purpose — εἰς τό + infinitive — ἐξαλείφω, sins erased like writing (Ps 51:1, 9; Isa 43:25)

that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,purpose — ὅπως ἄν, classical — καιροὶ ἀναψύξεως NT hapax: present relief or eschatological respite, left open

and that he may send the Christ appointed for you — Jesus —purpose — coordinate ὅπως clause — the sending contingent on Israel's repentance; προχειρίζομαι, appointed beforehand

whom heaven must receive until the times of the restoration of all things,relative — the heavenly session — δεῖ of divine necessity; ἀποκατάστασις NT hapax

of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.relative — on πάντων (attracted ὧν) — the restoration is exactly what the prophets announced; 'mouth of the prophets' repeats v. 18

vv. 22–24 — the prophetic warrant: Moses' prophet, and all the prophets since Samuel

Moses said,content — μέν answered by v. 24's δέ — Moses first, then all the prophets; recitative ὅτι

'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers;content — Deut 18:15 — the prophet like Moses, applied to Jesus as the definitive eschatological Prophet; ἀναστήσει puns on the resurrection (v. 26)

you shall listen to him in everythingcontent — Deut 18:15b — emphatic fronted αὐτοῦ: him you shall hear

that he says to you.relative — indefinite relative with ἄν — the prophet's whole word binding

And it shall be that every soulcontent — Deut 18:19 fused with Lev 23:29 — Semitic ἔσται-frame with pendent subject, resumed below

that does not listen to that prophetrelative — ἥτις ἐάν (= ἄν) — indefinite; hearing the sole criterion

shall be utterly destroyed from the people.content — the pendent subject resumed — ἐξολεθρεύω, the ban-formula of Lev 23:29; to refuse this prophet is to leave Israel

And indeed all the prophets, from Samuel and those who came after,content — suspended subject — καὶ … δέ, 'and indeed'; Samuel heads the prophetic line (1 Sam 3:20)

as many as have spoken,relative — the sweep made total — no prophet outside this witness

also proclaimed these days.content — the predicate resumed, its καί anacoluthic — 'these days': the messianic now

vv. 25–26 — the sons of the covenant: blessed first, turned from wickedness

You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenantcontent — emphatic ὑμεῖς — heirs of prophecy and covenant, therefore addressed first (v. 26 πρῶτον)

that God made with your fathers,relative — on τῆς διαθήκης (attracted ἧς for ἥν) — διατίθεμαι διαθήκην, the covenant-making idiom

saying to Abraham,participial — the citation-frame — the covenant given in its own words

'And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'content — Gen 22:18; 26:4 — σπέρμα corporate and singular at once (cf. Gal 3:16); the blessing now being dispensed (v. 26)

To you first, God, having raised up his Servant,participial — preposed — leans on ἀπέστειλεν; ἀναστήσας echoes Deut 18:15's ἀναστήσει and the resurrection; παῖς closes the inclusio with v. 13

sent him,content — the sermon's last main verb — the Servant sent to Israel first (13:46, 'to you first')

to bless youparticipial — telic participle — the Abrahamic blessing of v. 25 in act

by turning each of you from your wickedness.phrase modifier — ἐν τῷ + infinitive of means — the blessing is conversion itself; ἕκαστον, one by one

Analysis. Acts 3 is a diptych, and the page shows it. The first half (vv. 1–10) reads like narrative should: flush-left purple main clauses, one event per line — they were going up, he began asking, Peter said, he raised him, he stood, walked, entered — with Luke's preposed participles (ἀτενίσας, πιάσας, ἐξαλλόμενος) leaning forward, anchor-less, on the verbs below them, and the two short speeches hanging blue under εἶπεν, the second carrying the chapter's hinge: ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Ναζωραίου, ἔγειρε καὶ περιπάτει. The second half is one speech: after the genitive absolute of v. 11 and the frame ἀπεκρίνατο πρὸς τὸν λαόν (v. 12), fifteen verses of coordinate blue cnt lines share the single ἀπεκρίνατο anchor, and against that constant-depth column the sermon's own grammar indents — the you/God antitheses with their relatives (ὃν ὑμεῖς μὲν παρεδώκατε … ὃν ὁ θεὸς ἤγειρεν), the concessive genitive absolute κρίναντος ἐκείνου ἀπολύειν, the purpose chain of vv. 19–21 (εἰς τό + two ὅπως-ἄν clauses) hung on ἐπιστρέψατε, the Deut 18:15, 19 citation stepped under Μωϋσῆς εἶπεν, and the Gen 22:18 covenant word four deep under λέγων. Cruxes taken or flagged: ἀρχηγὸν τῆς ζωῆς is glossed 'Author of life' with the founder/pioneer/prince range noted; καιροὶ ἀναψύξεως (NT hapax) is left open between present relief and eschatological respite, though the ὅπως clauses are read as genuinely contingent on Israel's repentance; οὗ in v. 15 ('of which — or of whom — we are witnesses') is left ambiguous; ὧν (v. 21) and ἧς (v. 25) are marked as attracted relatives; and the two Semitic suspensions — v. 23's ἔσται … ἐξολεθρευθήσεται and v. 24's πάντες οἱ προφῆται … καὶ κατήγγειλαν with its anacoluthic καί — are laid out as the pendent constructions they are, dashed where the line hangs verbless.