1 ARST About this same time, King Herod Agrippa sent soldiers to arrest some of the leaders of the group of believers in Jerusalem. The soldiers put them in prison. The king did that because he wanted to hurt the believers and their community. BSB BSB: About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.
2 ARST He commanded a soldier to cut off the head of the apostle James, the older brother of the apostle John. So the soldier did that. BSB BSB: He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
3 ARST When Herod realized that he had pleased the leaders of the Jewish people, he commanded soldiers to arrest Peter too. This happened during the festival when the Jewish people ate bread without yeast. BSB BSB: And seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
4 ARST After the soldiers arrested Peter, they put him in prison. Herod assigned four groups of soldiers to guard Peter. Each group had four soldiers. Herod wanted to bring Peter out of prison and judge him in front of the Jewish people after the Passover Festival was finished.{ He then planned to execute Peter.} BSB BSB: He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
5 ARST So for several days Peter stayed in prison. But the other believers in their group in Jerusalem were urgently praying to God, asking him to help Peter. BSB BSB: So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was fervently praying to God for him.
6 ARST It was the night before Herod planned to bring Peter out of prison and have him executed publicly. Peter was sleeping in the prison between two soldiers. A soldier on one side of him had locked a chain onto Peter’ s wrist and his own wrist. A soldier on the other side of Peter had done the same thing. Two more soldiers were guarding the prison doors. BSB BSB: On the night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison.
7 ARST Suddenly, an angel from the Lord God stood beside Peter. A bright light shone in his cell.{ But Peter was still sleeping so soundly that} the angel poked him in the side to wake him up. The angel told him,“Get up quickly!”{ While Peter was getting up,} the chains fell off from his wrists.{ However, the soldiers were not aware of what was happening.} BSB BSB: Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.
8 ARST Then the angel said to him,“Fasten your belt around you and tie your sandals onto your feet!” And Peter did what the angel told him to do. Then the angel told him,“Wrap your cloak around you and follow me!” BSB BSB: “Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel. Peter did so, and the angel told him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
9 ARST So Peter{ put on his cloak and sandals and} followed the angel out of the prison cell. He had no idea that all this was really happening. He thought that he was dreaming. BSB BSB: So Peter followed him out, but he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought he was only seeing a vision.
10 ARST Peter and the angel walked by the soldiers who were guarding the two doors, but the soldiers did not see them. Then they came to the iron gate that led into the city. The gate swung open for them, and Peter and the angel walked out of the prison. After they had walked some distance along one street, the angel suddenly disappeared. BSB BSB: They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. When they had gone outside and walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.
11 ARST Then Peter finally realized that this was not a vision, it was really happening. So he thought,“Now I know that the Lord God truly sent an angel to help me. He rescued me from what Herod planned to do to me and from all the things that the Jewish leaders expected would happen.” BSB BSB: Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
12 ARST When Peter realized that God had rescued him, he went to Mary’ s house. She was the mother of John, whose other name was Mark. Many believers had assembled there, and they were praying that God would help Peter somehow. BSB BSB: And when he had realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered together and were praying.
13 ARST When Peter knocked at the outer entrance, a servant girl whose name was Rhoda came to find out who was outside the door. BSB BSB: He knocked at the outer gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it.
14 ARST { When Peter responded,} she recognized his voice, but she was so happy and excited that she forgot to open the door! Instead, she ran back into the house. She told the other believers that Peter was standing outside the door. BSB BSB: When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!”
15 ARST But they said to her,“You must be crazy!” But she continued to say that it was really true. They kept responding,“{ No, it cannot be Peter.} It is probably his angel.” BSB BSB: “You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.”
16 ARST But Peter kept knocking the whole time those inside were talking. So when some of them finally opened the door, they saw that it was Peter, and they could hardly believe it! BSB BSB: But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.
17 ARST Peter waved his hand to get them to be quiet. Then he told them exactly how the Lord God had let him out of the prison. He also said,“Tell James, the leader of our group, and our other fellow believers what has happened.” Then Peter left and went away somewhere else. BSB BSB: Peter motioned with his hand for silence, and he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.
18 ARST The next morning the soldiers who had been guarding Peter{ saw that he was gone}. They wondered what had happened to him, and they became terribly upset. BSB BSB: At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
19 ARST { Then Herod heard about it. So} he commanded soldiers to search for Peter, but they did not find him. Then Herod questioned the soldiers who had been guarding Peter.{ But the soldiers had no good explanation for what had happened.} So Herod commanded them to be executed{, which was how the Romans punished guards whose prisoners escaped}. Afterwards, Herod went from the province of Judea to the city of Caesarea, where he stayed for some time. BSB BSB: After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.
20 ARST King Herod became very upset with the people who lived in the cities of Tyre and Sidon.{ He stopped them from trading with the people he ruled.} But the people of Tyre and Sidon needed to buy food from those regions. So they sent representatives together to the city of Caesarea to meet with Herod. They persuaded Blastus, who was one of Herod’ s important officials, to tell Herod that they wanted to live peacefully with him. BSB BSB: Now Herod was in a furious dispute with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they convened before him. Having secured the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their region depended on the king’s country for food.
21 ARST On the day that Herod had planned to meet with the representatives of Tyre and Sidon{, he did some things to impress them}. He put on very expensive clothes and he sat on his royal throne. Then he formally addressed all the people who had gathered there. BSB BSB: On the appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes, sat on his throne, and addressed the people.
22 ARST Those who were listening to him shouted repeatedly,“King Herod speaks so well that he must be a god, not a man!” BSB BSB: And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!”
23 ARST Herod accepted the praise of the people instead of telling them they should praise God. So while the people were still praising Herod, the Lord God sent an angel to punish him. That angel punished him severely: Worms ate him and he died. BSB BSB: Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 ARST The believers continued telling God’ s message to people in many places, and the number of people who believed in Jesus was continually increasing. BSB BSB: But the word of God continued to spread and multiply.
25 ARST Barnabas and Saul finished delivering the money to help the Jewish believers in the province of Judea. They returned to the city of Jerusalem. They brought John, whose other name was Mark, with them. BSB BSB: When Barnabas and Saul had fulfilled their mission to Jerusalem, they returned, bringing with them John, also called Mark.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.