King Herod puts Peter in prison

12 At that time, King Herod took hold of some of the group of believers in Jerusalem. He wanted to cause them to suffer. ² He sent his soldiers to cut off James's head. James was John's brother.^[a]

³ King Herod saw that the Jews were happy because he had killed James. So he sent his soldiers to take hold of Peter too. This happened during the Festival of Flat Bread.^[b]

⁴ After the soldiers caught Peter, they put him in prison. While he was in prison, four different groups of soldiers guarded him. There were four soldiers in each group.^[c] Herod wanted to judge Peter in front of everybody. After the Passover festival had finished, he would bring Peter out of the prison to do this.

⁵ So Herod kept Peter in prison. But during that time, the group of believers prayed that God would help Peter.

Peter walks out of the prison

⁶ It was the night before King Herod wanted to bring Peter out of the prison and judge him. The soldiers had tied Peter to themselves with chains. So Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. Some other soldiers were guarding the doors of the prison. ⁷ Then, an angel from the Lord God suddenly appeared in the prison. A bright light shone in the room where Peter was sleeping. The angel touched Peter's shoulder so that Peter woke up. He said to Peter, ‘Hurry! Stand up!’ Immediately the chains fell off Peter's hands.

⁸ Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and your shoes.’ Peter did what the angel told him to do. Then the angel said, ‘Now put on your coat and follow me.’ ⁹ So Peter followed the angel out of the prison. He was not sure that all these things were really happening to him. He thought that he might be dreaming. ¹⁰ Peter and the angel walked past the first group of soldiers in the prison. Then they walked past the second group of soldiers. After that, they came to the big metal gate in the wall of the prison. The city was outside this gate. The gate opened by itself in front of them. So Peter and the angel went out of the prison through the gate. They walked together along one street and then, suddenly, the angel went away.

¹¹ Then Peter understood what had happened. He said to himself, ‘Now I know that these things really have happened to me. The Lord God sent one of his angels to rescue me from Herod's power. The Jewish leaders wanted Herod to cause me to suffer. But God has saved me from those bad things.’

¹² When Peter realized what God had done for him, he went to Mary's house. She was the mother of John Mark. Many people were meeting together in her house. They were praying to God.^[d]

¹³ Peter knocked on the outside door of the house. A servant girl called Rhoda came to the door. ¹⁴ She recognized Peter's voice and she was very happy. But she did not open the door. Instead, she ran back into the house and she said to all the people there, ‘Peter is standing outside the door!’

¹⁵ The people in the house said to her, ‘You are crazy.’ But she told them again that Peter really was there. So then they said, ‘It is not him, but it is his angel.’^[e]

¹⁶ While all this was happening, Peter was still knocking at the door. Then someone went and opened the door. They were all very surprised when they saw him there. ¹⁷ Peter raised his hand towards them so that they would all be quiet. Then he explained to them how the Lord God had brought him out of the prison. He said to them, ‘Tell James and all the other believers what has happened to me.’^[f] Then he left the house and he went away to another place.

¹⁸ When morning arrived, there was a lot of trouble at the prison. The soldiers did not understand what had happened to Peter. ¹⁹ When Herod knew about it, he said to the soldiers, ‘Go and look for Peter!’ But they could not find him anywhere. Herod then asked the soldiers who guarded the prison some questions. They could not explain what had happened. So Herod commanded other soldiers to cut off their heads.

After this happened, Herod left Judea. He went to Caesarea and he stayed there for some time.

King Herod dies

²⁰ At that time, King Herod was angry with the people who lived in Tyre and Sidon. A group of men from these cities went together to speak to Herod about the problem. A man called Blastus was an important servant in King Herod's house. The group of men said to Blastus, ‘Please help us when we speak to King Herod.’ Then they went and they said to Herod, ‘Please stop being angry with our people. We want to be friends again.’ They said this because they needed to buy food in King Herod's country.^[g]

²¹ Herod decided on which day he would meet with them. He put on his beautiful clothes and he sat in his special seat as king. Then he spoke his message to all the people. ²² When he spoke, the people shouted, ‘This is not a man who is speaking to us. This is the voice of a god!’

²³ Herod let the people praise him, instead of God. So, immediately, an angel of the Lord God caused him to become very ill. Worms ate his body and later he died.

Barnabas and Saul return to Antioch

²⁴ Everywhere that the believers went, they told people God's message. People heard the message in more and more places and many of them believed in Jesus.

²⁵ Barnabas and Saul had gone to Jerusalem to help the believers there. They finished their work and then they returned to Antioch. They took John Mark with them.