Acts 12:5–18

⁵So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest ^lprayer for him was made to God by the church.

Peter Is Rescued

⁶Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^mbound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. ⁷And behold, ⁿan angel of the Lord ^ostood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. ^pHe struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And ^qthe chains fell off his hands. ⁸And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and ^rput on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but ^sthought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. ^tIt opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. ¹¹When Peter ^ucame to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that ^vthe Lord has sent his angel and ^wrescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹²When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^xJohn whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and ^ywere praying. ¹³And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, ^za servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴Recognizing Peter’s voice, ^ain her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is ^bhis angel!” ¹⁶But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷But ^cmotioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to ^dJames and to ^ethe brothers.”¹ Then he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.