Herod Agrippa Hurts the Church

12 During that same time King Herod [^CAgrippa I, who lived 10 bc–ad 44; he was the grandson of Herod the Great (Luke 1:5)] ·began to mistreat [^Llaid hands on to harm/do evil to] some who belonged to the church. ² He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword [^Cexecution by beheading]. ³ Herod saw that ·some of the people liked this [^Lthis pleased the Jews/Jewish leaders], so he decided to arrest Peter, too. (This happened during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)

⁴ After Herod ·arrested [seized] Peter, he put him in ·jail [prison] and handed him over to be guarded by ·sixteen [^Lfour squads of four] soldiers. Herod planned to bring Peter ·before the people for trial [^Lto the people; ^Can idiom for a public trial] after the Passover Feast. ⁵ So Peter was kept in ·jail [prison], but the church prayed earnestly to God for him.

Peter Released by an Angel

⁶ The night before Herod was to bring him ·to trial [^Lout; ^Ceither for trial or for execution], Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Other soldiers were guarding the door of the jail. ⁷ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord stood there, and a light shined in the cell. The angel ·struck [tapped; poked] Peter on the side and woke him up. “Hurry! Get up!” the angel said. And the chains fell off Peter’s ·hands [wrists]. ⁸ Then the angel told him, “·Get dressed [or Put on your belt] and put on your sandals.” And Peter did. Then the angel said, “·Put on your coat [^LWrap your coat/cloak around you] and follow me.” ⁹ So Peter followed him out, but he did not know if what the angel was doing was real; he thought he might be seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They went past the first and second guards and came to the iron gate that ·separated them from [^Lled to] the city. The gate opened by itself for them, and they went through it. When they had walked down one street, the angel suddenly left him.

¹¹ Then Peter ·realized what had happened [came to himself]. He thought, “Now I know that the Lord really sent his angel to me. He rescued me ·from [^Lfrom the hands of] Herod and from all the things the [^LJewish] people thought would happen.”

¹² When he ·considered [realized] this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John [^Lwho was also called] Mark [12:25; 13:5; 15:37; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 24; 1 Pet. 5:13]. Many people were gathered there, praying. ¹³ Peter knocked on the ·outside door [or courtyard gate], and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so happy she forgot to open the ·door [gate]. Instead, she ran inside and told the group, “Peter is at the ·door [gate]!”

¹⁵ They said to her, “You are ·crazy [insane; mad]!” But she kept on ·saying [insisting] it was true, so they said, “It must be Peter’s angel.”

¹⁶ [^LBut; Meanwhile] Peter continued to knock, and when they opened the door, they saw him and were ·amazed [astonished]. ¹⁷ Peter ·made a sign [motioned] with his hand to tell them to be quiet. He ·explained [recounted] how the Lord led him out of the ·jail [prison], and he said, “Tell James [^Cnot the son of Zebedee (who had been executed, 12:2), but the half-brother of Jesus, who would become the senior leader in the Jerusalem church; 15:13–21; 21:18] and the other ·believers [^Lbrothers] what happened.” Then he left to go to another place.

¹⁸ The next ·day [or morning] ·the soldiers were very upset [^Lthere was no small commotion among the soldiers; ^Csoldiers who allowed a prisoner to escape would suffer the prisoner’s punishment] and wondered what had happened to Peter. ¹⁹ Herod ·looked [searched] everywhere for him but could not find him. So he questioned the guards and ordered that they be ·killed [^Lled away; ^Cpresumably to be executed].

The Death of Herod Agrippa

Later Herod ·moved [or took a trip] from Judea and went to the city of Caesarea, where he stayed. ²⁰ Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon [^Cmajor cities on the Phoenician coast north of Israel], but the people of those cities all ·came in a group [or agreed together to come] to him. After convincing Blastus, the ·king’s personal servant [chamberlain; ^Lone in charge of his bedroom], to ·be on their side [or support their position], they asked Herod for peace, because their country got its food from his country.

²¹ On ·a chosen [an appointed] day Herod put on his royal robes, sat on his ·throne [judgment seat; rostrum; platform], and made a speech to the people. ²² They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not a human!” ²³ Because Herod did not give the glory to God, an angel of the Lord immediately ·caused him to become sick [^Lstruck him down], and he was ·eaten [or infected] by worms [^Cperhaps intestinal roundworms] and died.

²⁴ God’s ·message [word] continued to spread and reach people.

²⁵ After Barnabas and Saul finished their ·task in Jerusalem [mission], they returned to Antioch,^[a] taking John [^Lalso called] Mark with them.