Acts 12

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

James killed and Peter imprisoned

¹ Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hands to harm some from the assembly. ² Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. ³ And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. ⁴ So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover. ⁵ Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to Elohim for him by the assembly.

Peter set free

⁶ And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. ⁷ Now see, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Arise quickly!" And his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie on your sandals"; and so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me." ⁹ So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went on down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ¹¹ And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews."

¹² So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Miriam, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. ¹³ And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter's voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. ¹⁵ But they said to her, "You are out of your mind!" Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, "It is his angel." ¹⁶ Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. ¹⁷ But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Go, tell these things to James and to the brothers." And he departed and went to another place.

¹⁸ Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

The death of Herod

²⁰ Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having won over Blastus the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king's country. ²¹ So on an appointed day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on the judgment seat and gave an address to them. ²² And the people kept shouting, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" ²³ Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to Elohim. And he was eaten by worms and died. ²⁴ But the word of Elohim grew and multiplied.

²⁵ And Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their service, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.

Notes

• 12:1 This is Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, who ruled Judea as king from AD 41 until his death in 44 (verse 23). Josephus says he was careful to keep the customs of his people and was popular among them (Antiquities 19.331). His uncle Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of the Gospels, had killed John the Baptist.
• 12:4 The Greek word is pascha, Pesach, the Passover, which with the seven days of Unleavened Bread (verse 3; Leviticus 23:5-6) made up the spring feast. Some older English Bibles translated it "Easter" in this verse; the TRB, like most Bibles, says "the Passover." Herod would not hold a public trial during the feast, so Peter was guarded by four squads of four soldiers, one squad for each watch of the night.
• 12:15 "It is his angel" reflects a belief found among Jews of the time that each person has an angel watching over them, a thought Yeshua also expresses about the little ones whose "angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 18:10). The text records what the believers said in their surprise; it does not explain what they thought such an angel could do.
• 12:17 This James, named without explanation, is generally understood to be James the brother of the Lord (Galatians 1:19), since James the brother of John has just been killed (verse 2). He appears later as a leader of the assembly in Jerusalem (15:13; 21:18). Peter "went to another place," and Luke does not say where.
• 12:23 Josephus also tells of Agrippa's death at Caesarea in AD 44 (Antiquities 19.343-350): appearing in a robe of silver that shone in the morning sun, he was hailed as a god and did not rebuke the flattery, and he was seized with violent pains in his belly and died after five days. Luke gives the deeper cause: he did not give the glory to Elohim (compare Isaiah 42:8).
• 12:25 The Majority Text, with many other manuscripts, reads "returned to Jerusalem" (eis Ierousalēm), although Barnabas and Saul had gone up to Jerusalem with the relief (11:29-30) and are next found in Antioch (13:1); other manuscripts read "from Jerusalem." Many scholars suggest that "to Jerusalem" goes with "their service," that is, "they returned, having fulfilled their service to Jerusalem." The TRB keeps the order of the Greek.

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