Acts · Chapter 12
Acts 12
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits
James Killed, Peter Imprisoned
1About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.*
2He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
3And seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.*
4He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
The Rescue of Peter
5So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.
6On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.
7Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.
8“Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
9So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought he was only seeing a vision.
10They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.
11Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
12And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.
13He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.
14When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”
15“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.
17Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.
18At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
19After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.
The Death of Herod
20Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.*
21On the appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes, sat on his throne, and addressed the people.
22And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
23Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24But the word of God continued to spread and multiply.
25When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, bringing with them John, also called Mark.*
Source notes
- 12:1 That is, King Herod Agrippa Literally put forth the hands to mistreat
- 12:3 Literally seize Peter—now these were the days of the Unleavened; see Exodus 12:14–20. Read Exodus 12:14
- 12:20 Or had become furious
- 12:25 Or had fulfilled their mission, they returned to Jerusalem; NE and TR had fulfilled their mission, they returned from Jerusalem
Old Testament references
References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.
Exodus 12:14And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
1 Kings 19:1Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
1 Kings 19:10“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
Jeremiah 26:23They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.
Psalms 76:10Even the wrath of man shall praise You; with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.
Exodus 12:15For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
Exodus 12:16On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
Exodus 12:17So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
Exodus 12:18In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
Exodus 12:19For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
Exodus 12:20You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
Exodus 13:3So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.