Acts 12:6-19

New American Standard Bible

⁶ On ^[a]the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, ^(A)bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. ⁷ And behold, ^(B)an angel of the Lord suddenly ^(C)stood near Peter, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter’s side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And ^(D)his chains fell off his hands. ⁸ And the angel said to him, “Put on your belt and ^[b]strap on your sandals.” And he did so. And he *said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” ⁹ And he went out and continued to follow, and yet he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing ^(E)a vision. ¹⁰ Now when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which ^(F)opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ¹¹ When Peter ^(G)came ^[c]to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that ^(H)the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all ^[d]that the Jewish people were expecting.” ¹² And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of ^(I)John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and ^(J)were praying. ¹³ When he knocked at the door of the gate, ^(K)a slave woman named Rhoda came to answer. ¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, ^(L)because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They said, “It is ^(M)his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ But ^(N)motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to ^[e](O)James and ^(P)the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸ Now when day came, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers as to ^[f]what could have become of Peter. ¹⁹ When Herod had searched for him and had not found him, he examined the guards and ordered that they ^(Q)be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea to ^(R)Caesarea and was spending time there.