New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Acts chapter 12

Around that time, arrested some people from to them.He had — John’s brother — .When Herod saw that this , he went further and arrested Peter too. This happened during the .After arresting Peter, Herod threw him in prison and assigned each to guard him. He planned to put Peter on public trial after the festival.So Peter sat in prison while the gathered community .The night before Herod was going to bring Peter to trial, Peter was , while guards stood watch at the prison entrance.Suddenly an appeared and . The angel shook Peter awake, saying, “Quick — get up!” And the chains fell right off Peter’s wrists.The angel told him, “.” Peter did. Then the angel said, “Throw on your coat and follow me.”Peter followed the angel out, but he didn’t realize any of this was actually happening — he thought he was seeing a .They passed the first guard post, then the second, and came to the iron gate leading into the city. It . They walked through it, went down one street, and then — just like that — the angel was gone.When Peter finally , he said, “Now I know for sure — God sent his angel and me from Herod’s grip and from everything the Jewish leaders were hoping to do to me.”Once he figured out what had happened, he went to the house of — the mother of — where a large group had gathered and were praying.Peter knocked on the outer gate, and a servant girl named came to answer.She recognized Peter’s voice, and she was that instead of opening the gate, she ran back inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”“,” they told her. But she kept insisting it was true. So they said, “It must be .”Meanwhile, Peter kept knocking. When they finally opened the gate and saw him, they were .Peter , then explained how God had led him out of the prison. He said, “Tell and the other about this.” Then he left and .When morning came, there was among the soldiers — what on earth had happened to Peter?Herod launched a search for Peter, but couldn’t find him. So he . After that, Herod left Judea and went down to , where he stayed.Now Herod had been furious with the people of . They came to him together as a group, and after winning over — the king’s personal assistant — they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s territory for food.On the appointed day, Herod put on his , sat on his , and gave a public speech to them.The crowd began shouting, “This is !”Immediately, an angel from God because he . He was and died.But . and finished their and returned from Jerusalem, bringing along .