Acts 12

Peter’s Miraculous Escape

1 King Herod was out here wilding. He started attacking people in the church, trying to bring them down.

2 He straight-up killed James, John’s brother, with a sword.

3 When he saw that the Jewish leaders were hyped about it, he decided to go after Peter too. It was during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

4 After he arrested Peter, he threw him in jail, put him under guard with four squads of soldiers, and planned to put him on trial after the Passover.

5 Peter was locked up, but the church was praying hard for him.

6 The night before Herod was about to bring Peter out for trial, Peter was sleeping, chained up between two soldiers, with guards posted at the door.

7 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord showed up, and a light lit up the cell. The angel tapped Peter on the side and said, “Get up, man!” The chains fell off his wrists.

8 The angel told him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” Peter did as he was told. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel said.

9 Peter followed him out of the prison, but he thought it was all a vision. He did not realize it was real.

10 They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. The gate opened by itself, and they walked out. They kept going down one street, and then the angel disappeared.

11 Peter finally snapped out of it and said, “Now I know for real that the Lord sent His angel to rescue me from Herod and from everything the Jewish leaders planned to do to me.”

12 When Peter realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John (also called Mark), where a group of people was praying.

13 Peter knocked at the door, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.

14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she got so excited she ran back inside without even opening the door, shouting, “Peter is at the door!”

15 The people said, “Girl, you tripping!” But she kept insisting it was him. They said, “It must be his angel.”

16 Meanwhile, Peter kept knocking. When they opened the door and saw him, they were shook.

17 Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and told them how the Lord brought him out of prison. He said, “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” and then he dipped to another place.

18 In the morning, the soldiers were in a panic, trying to figure out what happened to Peter.

19 When Herod found out Peter was gone, he interrogated the guards and ordered them to be executed. Then Herod left Judea and went to Caesarea, where he stayed for a while.

Herod’s Death

20 Herod was beefing with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came to him together, trying to make peace, because their food supply came from his territory.

21 On the appointed day, Herod put on his royal drip, sat on his throne, and gave a speech to the people.

22 The crowd shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”

23 Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck Herod down because he did not give God the glory. He was eaten by worms and died.

24 But God’s word kept spreading and gaining followers.

25 When Barnabas and Saul finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking John (also called Mark) with them.