Acts:12:1-19
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About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church .
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He killed James the brother of John with the sword ;
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and when he saw that it pleased the Jews ,
he proceeded to arrest Peter also .
This was during the days of Unleavened Bread .
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And when he had seized him ,
he put him in prison ,
and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to guard him ,
intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people .
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So Peter was kept in prison ;
but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church .
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The very night when Herod was about to bring him out ,
Peter was sleeping between two soldiers ,
bound with two chains ,
and sentries before the door were guarding the prison ;
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and behold ,
an angel of the Lord appeared ,
and a light shone in the cell ;
and he struck Peter on the side and woke him ,
saying , "
Get up quickly ."
And the chains fell off his hands .
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And the angel said to him , "
Dress yourself and put on your sandals ."
And he did so .
And he said to him , "
Wrap your mantle around you and follow me ."
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And he went out and followed him ;
he did not know that what was done by the angel was real ,
but thought he was seeing a vision .
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When they had passed the first and the second guard ,
they came to the iron gate leading into the city .
It opened to them of its own accord ,
and they went out and passed on through one street ;
and immediately the angel left him .
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And Peter came to himself ,
and said , "
Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting ."
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When he realized this ,
he went to the house of Mary ,
the mother of John whose other name was Mark ,
where many were gathered together and were praying .
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And when he knocked at the door of the gateway ,
a maid named Rhoda came to answer .
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Recognizing Peter '
s voice ,
in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and told that Peter was standing at the gate .
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They said to her , "
You are mad ."
But she insisted that it was so .
They said , "
It is his angel !"
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But Peter continued knocking ;
and when they opened ,
they saw him and were amazed .
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But motioning to them with his hand to be silent ,
he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison .
And he said , "
Tell this to James and to the brethren ."
Then he departed and went to another place .
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Now when day came ,
there was no small stir among the soldiers over what had become of Peter .
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And when Herod had sought for him and could not find him ,
he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death .
Then he went down from Judea to Caesare '
a ,
and remained there .
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