Acts 12–13

CHAPTER 12

An Angel Frees Peter from Prison

¹Now about that time ¹Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to harm them.

²And he ^ahad James the brother of John ^bput to death with a sword.

³And when he saw that it ^apleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now ¹it was during ^bthe days of Unleavened Bread.

⁴When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four ^1asquads of soldiers to guard him, intending after ^bthe Passover to bring him out before the people.

⁵So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

⁶Now on ¹the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^abound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.

⁷And behold, ^aan angel of the Lord suddenly ^bappeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Rise up quickly.” And ^chis chains fell off his hands.

⁸And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and ¹put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he ^*said to him, “Wrap your garment around yourself and follow me.”

⁹And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but was thinking he was seeing ^aa vision.

¹⁰And when they had passed the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which ^aopened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

¹¹When Peter ^acame ¹to himself, he said, “Now truly I know that ^bthe Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all ²that the Jewish people were expecting.”

¹²And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^aJohn who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and ^bwere praying.

¹³And when he knocked at the door of the gate, ^aa servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.

¹⁴And when she recognized Peter’s voice, ^abecause of her joy she did not open the gate. But she ran in and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate.

¹⁵And they said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is ^ahis angel.”

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door, they saw him and were astounded.

¹⁷But ^amotioning to them with his hand to be silent, he recounted to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to ^bJames and ^cthe brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what ¹had become of Peter.

¹⁹And when Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they ^abe led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to ^bCaesarea and was spending time there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰Now he was very angry with the people of ^aTyre and Sidon; and with one accord they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because ^btheir country was fed by the king’s country.

²¹And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel and sitting on the judgment seat, began delivering an address to them.

²²And the assembly kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”

²³And immediately ^aan angel of the ¹Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

²⁴But ^athe word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

²⁵And ^aBarnabas and ^bSaul ¹returned ²to Jerusalem, ^cfulfilling their ministry, taking along with them ^dJohn, who was also called Mark.

CHAPTER 13

Barnabas and Saul Sent from Antioch by the Holy Spirit

¹Now there were at ^aAntioch, in the ^bchurch that was there, ^cprophets and ^dteachers: ^eBarnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of ^fCyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with ^gHerod the tetrarch, and Saul.

²And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, ^athe Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me ^bBarnabas and Saul for ^cthe work to which I have called them.”

³Then, when they had fasted and ^aprayed and ^blaid their hands on them, ^cthey sent them away.

On Cyprus

⁴So, being ^asent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to ^bCyprus.

⁵And when they reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in ^athe synagogues of the Jews, and they also had ^bJohn as their helper.

⁶And when they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a ^amagician, a Jewish ^bfalse prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus,

⁷who was with the ^aproconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.

⁸But Elymas the ^amagician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the ^bproconsul away from ^cthe faith.

⁹But Saul, who was also known as Paul, ^1afilled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him,

¹⁰and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you ^ason of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked ^bthe straight ways of the ¹Lord?

¹¹“Now, behold, ^athe hand of the ¹Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and not see the sun for a time.” And immediately a mist and a darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking those who would lead him by the hand.

¹²Then the ^aproconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being astonished at ^bthe teaching of the Lord.

In Pisidian Antioch

¹³Now after Paul and his companions set sail from ^aPaphos, they came to ^bPerga in ^cPamphylia, but ^dJohn left them and returned to Jerusalem.

¹⁴But going on from Perga, they arrived at ^aPisidian ^bAntioch. And on ^cthe Sabbath day, they went into ^dthe synagogue and sat down.

¹⁵And after ^athe reading of the Law and ^bthe Prophets ^cthe synagogue officials sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.”

¹⁶So Paul stood up, and ^amotioning with his hand said,

“Men of Israel, and ^byou who fear God, listen:

¹⁷“The God of this people Israel ^achose our fathers and ^1blifted up the people during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm ^cHe led them out from it.

¹⁸“And for ^aa period of about forty years ^bHe put up with them in the wilderness.

¹⁹“^aAnd when He destroyed ^bseven nations in the land of Canaan, He ^cdistributed their land as an inheritance—all of which took ^dabout 450 years.

²⁰“After these things He ^agave them judges until ^bSamuel the prophet.

²¹“Then they ^aasked for a king, and God gave them ^bSaul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.

²²“And after He had ^aremoved him, He raised up David to be their king, about whom He also said, bearing witness, ‘^bI have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My ¹will.’

²³“^aFrom the seed of this man, ^baccording to promise, God has brought to Israel ^ca Savior, Jesus,

²⁴after ^aJohn had preached before ¹His coming a ^bbaptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

²⁵“And as John ^awas fulfilling his course, ^bhe kept saying, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me of whom I am not worthy to untie the sandals of His feet.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, to us the word of ^athis salvation was sent.

²⁷“For those who live in Jerusalem, and their ^arulers, ^brecognizing neither Him nor the ¹utterances of ^cthe prophets which are ^dread every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning Him.

²⁸“And though they found no ground for death, they ^aasked Pilate that He be ¹executed.

²⁹“And when they had ^afinished all that was written concerning Him, ^bthey took Him down from ^cthe tree and ^dlaid Him in a tomb.

³⁰“But God ^araised Him from the dead;

³¹and for many days ^aHe appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, the very ones who are now ^bHis witnesses to the people.

³²“And we ^aproclaim to you the good news of ^bthe promise made to the fathers,

³³that God has fulfilled this promise ¹to our children in that He ^araised up Jesus, as it is also written in the second Psalm, ‘^bYou are My Son; today I have begotten You.’

³⁴“But that He ^araised Him up from the dead, no longer to return to corruption, He has spoken in this way: ‘^bI will give you the holy and ¹faithful lovingkindnesses of david.’

³⁵“Therefore He also says in another Psalm, ‘^aYou will not give Your ¹Holy One over to see corruption.’

³⁶“For ^aDavid, after he had ¹served ^bthe purpose of God in his own generation, ^cfell asleep and was laid among his fathers and saw corruption;

³⁷but He whom God ^araised did not see corruption.

³⁸“Therefore let it be known to you, brothers, that ^athrough ¹Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

³⁹and that in Him, ^aeveryone who believes is justified from all things which you could not be justified from ¹through the Law of Moses.

⁴⁰“Therefore watch out, so that the thing spoken of ^ain the Prophets may not come upon you:

⁴¹‘^aLook, you scoffers, and marvel, and ¹perish;

For I am accomplishing a work in your days,

A work which you will never believe, though someone should recount it to you.’”

⁴²And as ¹Paul and Barnabas were leaving, the people kept pleading that these words might be spoken to them the next ^aSabbath.

⁴³Now when the meeting of the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and of the ^aGod-fearing ^1bproselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, were urging them to continue in ^cthe grace of God.

Many Gentiles Believe

⁴⁴And the next ^aSabbath, nearly the whole city assembled to hear the word of ¹the ²Lord.

⁴⁵But when ^athe Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul, ¹blaspheming.

⁴⁶Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you ^afirst. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, ^bwe are turning to the…