Acts 12:1–16

Herod’s Violence to the Church

12Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. ²Then he killed James ^athe brother of John with the sword. ³And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during ^bthe Days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴So ^cwhen he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four ¹squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

Peter Freed from Prison

⁵Peter was therefore kept in prison, but ²constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. ⁶And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were ³keeping the prison. ⁷Now behold, ^dan angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. ⁸Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” ⁹So he went out and followed him, and ^edid not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought ^fhe was seeing a vision. ¹⁰When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, ^gwhich opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that ^hthe Lord has sent His angel, and ⁱhas delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

¹²So, when he had considered this, ^jhe came to the house of Mary, the mother of ^kJohn whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together ^lpraying. ¹³And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. ¹⁵But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, ^m“It is his angel.”

¹⁶Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished.