Acts 3:2

And a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those entering the temple courts.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Peter and John approach the temple at the ninth hour when they encounter a man carried daily to the Beautiful Gate. The narrative places him there as a permanent beggar waiting for those entering the temple courts.

The words — The Greek term χωλὸς (chōlos) literally means "lame," modified by the phrase ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός (ek koilias mētros), "from the womb of his mother." These words establish his condition as congenital rather than acquired.

The thread — This portrait of a lifelong disabled beggar mirrors the man in Lystra described in Acts 14:8 and the neighbors questioning the healed blind man in John 9:8. It also parallels the destitute Lazarus laid at a gate in Luke 16:20.

Why it lands — The text presents a fixed, daily routine of dependence that precedes any external intervention. It requires the reader to observe how ordinary human limitation sets the stage for sudden narrative reversal.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;

Cross-references

Acts 14:8 In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked.
John 9:8 At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
Luke 16:20 And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores
Luke 18:35 As Jesus drew near to Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.
Acts 10:31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your gifts to the poor have been remembered before God.
John 1:9 The true Light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
Acts 4:22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
Acts 10:4 Cornelius stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, Lord?” The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have ascended as a memorial offering before God.