Acts 12:5–18

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. ¹⁷But ⁿmotioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small ⁴stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.