Epiboulē combines epi (upon/against) + boulē (plan, counsel, will). It means a plot or scheme directed against someone — a plan laid with hostile intent. It appears 4 times in Acts, always describing Jewish plots against Paul's life.
The plots against Paul are not incidental — they are the continuation of the age-old pattern: the world plotting against God's messenger. Psalm 2 opens with the nations plotting against the LORD and His Anointed. Jesus predicted this would happen to His disciples. Paul's experience of epiboulē fulfills the promise of suffering and models the response: not bitterness or retaliation, but pressing on, appealing to proper authorities, and trusting God's sovereign protection. "No weapon formed against you shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17) is the theological answer to every epiboulē.