Acts 12

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.