Acts:12
Seeker Overlay ON
*
Now at that time Herod the king put [
forth ]
his hands to harm some from the church .
*
And he put to death James the brother of John with the sword .
*
And seeing that it was pleasing to the Jews ,
he proceeded further to arrest Peter also (
these were during the Days of Unleavened Bread ),
*
whom also seizing ,
he put him in prison ,
and handed him over to four four-man squads of soldiers to guard him ,
planning after the Passover to bring him again to the people .
*
Therefore Peter was kept in prison ;
but earnest prayer was being made by the church to God [
on ]
behalf of him .
*
But when Herod was about to bring him forth ,
on that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers ,
having been bound with two chains ;
and guards before the door were keeping the prison .
*
And behold ,
an angel of the Lord stood [
there ],
and a light shined in the prison room ;
and striking the side of Peter ,
he roused him saying , "
Arise quickly !"
And his chains fell away from his hands .
*
And the angel said to him , "
Gird yourself and put on your sandals ";
and he did so .
And he said to him , "
Put on your cloak and follow me ."
*
And going out ,
he was following him ,
and did not know that the thing taking place by the angel was true ,
but he was thinking that he was seeing a vision .
*
And going though the first and the second guard [
posts ],
they came to the iron gate which leads into the city ,
which was opened to them of its own accord ;
and going out ,
they went forward one street ,
and immediately the angel withdrew from him .
*
And Peter ,
having come to himself ,
said , "
Now I know truly that the Lord has sent forth His angel ,
and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jews ."
*
And realizing [
this ],
he came to the house of Mary ,
the mother of John whose surname was Mark ,
where a considerable [
number ]
were gathered together and were praying .
*
And when Peter knocked at the door of the gate ,
a servant girl came to answer ,
named Rhoda .
*
When she recognized Peter '
s voice ,
because of her gladness she did not open the gate ,
but running in ,
she announced that Peter stood at the gate .
*
But they said to her , "
You are mad !"
Yet she kept insisting that it was so .
So they said , "
It is his angel ."
*
But Peter was continuing knocking ;
and opening [
the door ]
they saw him ,
and were astounded .
*
And motioning to them with his hand to be silent ,
he related to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison .
And he said , "
Tell these things to James and to the brothers ."
And going out ,
he went to another place .
*
Now when day came ,
there was no small disturbance among the soldiers ,
as to what had become of Peter .
*
And Herod ,
seeking for him and not finding him ,
he examined the guards ,
and commanded that they be executed .
And going down from Judea to Caesarea ,
he was spending time [
there ].
*
Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon ;
and with one purpose they came to him ,
and persuading Blastus ,
the one over the king '
s bedroom ,
they asked for peace ,
because their country was fed from the king '
s [
country ].
*
And on an appointed day Herod ,
clothing himself with royal apparel ,
and sitting on the judgment seat ,
was delivering an address to them .
*
And the crowds kept calling out , "[
This is the ]
voice of a god and not of a man !"
*
Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him ,
because he did not give glory to God .
And he was eaten by worms and died .
*
But the word of God increased and multiplied .
*
And Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem ,
having fulfilled their ministry ,
taking along with [
them ]
John also ,
whose surname was Mark .