Acts 12

12 ¹ About that time King Herod attacked some who belonged to the church, intending to harm them. ² He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. ³ When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he also seized Peter. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ After arresting him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to our Father on his behalf. ⁶ The very night before Herod was to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while sentries stood guard at the door of the prison. ⁷ Suddenly an angel of our Father stood beside him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his hands. ⁸ The angel said to him, "Dress yourself and put on your sandals." Peter did so. Then he said, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." ⁹ Peter went out and followed him, not realizing that what the angel was doing was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they had passed the first and second guard posts, they came to the iron gate leading into the city, which opened for them by itself. They went out and walked along one street, and suddenly the angel left him.

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, "Now I know for certain that our Father sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's hand and from everything the Jewish people were expecting." ¹² When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ When Peter knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ Recognizing Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that instead of opening the gate she ran inside and announced that Peter was standing at the gateway.

¹⁵ "You are out of your mind," they told her. But she kept insisting it was true. So they said, "It is his angel." ¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ Motioning to them with his hand to be quiet, he described how our Father had brought him out of the prison. "Tell James and the brothers and sisters about this," he said. Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸ When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ After Herod searched for him and could not find him, he interrogated the sentries and ordered them to be executed. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

Our Father Strikes Down Herod

²⁰ Now Herod was furious with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him together and, having won over Blastus, the king's personal attendant, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king's country for food. ²¹ On the appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the throne, and gave a public speech to them. ²² And the crowd kept shouting, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man!" ²³ Immediately an angel of our Father struck him down, because he did not give the glory to our Father; and he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴ But the word of our Father continued to grow and spread. ²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had completed their mission, bringing with them John who was also called Mark.