An Angel Frees Peter from Prison

12 Now about that time ^[a]Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church in order to harm them. ² And he ^(A)had James the brother of John ^(B)put to death with a sword. ³ And when he saw that it ^(C)pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. Now ^[b]it was during ^(D)the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ When he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him to four ^[c](E)squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after ^(F)the Passover to bring him out before the people. ⁵ So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.

⁶ Now on ^[d]the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^(G)bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. ⁷ And behold, ^(H)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^(I)appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him up, saying, “Rise up quickly.” And ^(J)his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and ^[e]put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your garment around yourself and follow me.” ⁹ And 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 ^(K)a vision. ¹⁰ And when they had passed the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which ^(L)opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ¹¹ When Peter ^(M)came ^[f]to himself, he said, “Now truly I know that ^(N)the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all ^[g]that the Jewish people were expecting.” ¹² And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^(O)John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and ^(P)were praying. ¹³ And when he knocked at the door of the gate, ^(Q)a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ And when she recognized Peter’s voice, ^(R)because of her joy she did not open the gate. But she ran in and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate. ¹⁵ And they said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is ^(S)his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door, they saw him and were astounded. ¹⁷ But ^(T)motioning 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 ^(U)James and ^(V)the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to what ^[h]had become of Peter. ¹⁹ And when Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they ^(W)be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to ^(X)Caesarea and was spending time there.

The Death of Herod

²⁰ Now he was very angry with the people of ^(Y)Tyre 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 ^(Z)their country was fed by the king’s country. ²¹ And on an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel and sitting on the judgment seat, began delivering an address to them. ²² And the assembly kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” ²³ And immediately ^(AA)an angel of the ^[i]Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

²⁴ But ^(AB)the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.

²⁵ And ^(AC)Barnabas and ^(AD)Saul ^[j]returned ^[k]to Jerusalem, ^(AE)fulfilling their ministry, taking along with them ^(AF)John, who was also called Mark.