Acts 12

₁At that time King Herod arrested some of the believers. He wanted them to suffer. ₂He told the soldiers to kill James, the brother of John, and they killed him with a sword. ₃King Herod saw that the Jewish_leaders were happy that he had killed James and then he also arrested Peter after the Feast of the flat bread had started. ₄King Herod arrested Peter and put him in jail and he told 4 groups of guards to look after him. There were 4 guards in each group. King Herod wanted to judge Peter after the Passover in a place where all the people could see it. ₅The guards put Peter in jail but the believers of the church continued to pray and asked God to help Peter.

₆The Passover was over and King Herod wanted to judge Peter the next day. That night the guards tied Peter with chains and then they tied these chains to 2 other guards. There was one guard on each side of Peter while he was sleeping. There were also guards at the door of the jail. ₇Suddenly an angel of the Lord was standing in front of Peter and a light shone in the jail. The angel touched Peter and said to him: ‘Wake up. Get up quickly.’

The chains fell off Peter's hands. ₈The angel said to Peter: ‘Put on your clothes and your sandals.’ Peter put on his clothes and the angel said: ‘Put on your cloak and come with me.’

₉Peter went out of jail with the angel but he was not sure if the things that the angel did were really happening to him. It felt like he was having a dream or a vision. ₁₀They walked past the first group of guards and past the 2nd group, and then they came to the iron gate in the wall of the jail, where people went through to the city. The gate opened by itself and Peter and the angel went out of the jail and walked down the street. Suddenly the angel was not there anymore. He was gone. ₁₁When Peter realised that it had really happened and that he was not dreaming, he said to himself: ‘Now I really know that God has sent his angel to save me from King Herod and from the bad things that the Jewish_leaders wanted to do to me.’

₁₂When Peter realised what had happened, he went to the house of Mary. She was the mother of John, whose other name was Mark. There were a lot of people in the house who had come together to pray. ₁₃Peter went to the house and he knocked on the door. A servant girl came to the door. Her name was Rhoda. ₁₄When she heard that it was Peter at the door, she was so happy that she did not open the door. She ran back into the house and told the people that Peter was standing outside the door. ₁₅But they said to her: ‘You are mad. It can not be Peter.’

She said again and again that she was sure it was Peter. But they said: ‘No, it must be Peter's angel.’

₁₆Peter knocked and knocked on the door. Later they opened the door and they saw that it was Peter. They were very surprised. ₁₇Peter signed with his hands and showed the people to keep quiet. Then he told them how the Lord had led him out of jail. He said: ‘You must tell this to James and the other believers.’

Then Peter went away to another place. ₁₈The next morning the guards were shocked and upset about what had happened with Peter. ₁₉King Herod told them to look for Peter, but they could not find him. King Herod then asked the guards a lot of questions about what had happened, and then he said they must take away those guards and kill them. After that King Herod went away from the province of Judea to the city of Caesarea and he stayed there for some time.

₂₀King Herod was very angry with the people from the towns of Tyre and Sidon. Those people had received food from King Herod's land and some of those people came to Herod to talk to him. First they talked to an official. His name was Blastus. They told him that they wanted to talk to the king to make peace. ₂₁On the day that King Herod told them to come, he put on his beautiful royal clothes and he sat on the throne and he talked to the people. ₂₂Some of the men shouted: ‘You speak like a god and not like a man.’

₂₃King Herod did not say that only God is great and powerful, and that is why an angel of the Lord made Herod sick immediately and worms started to eat him and he died.

₂₄The believers continued to tell the message of God in a lot of places and more and more people started to believe in Christ. ₂₅Barnabas and Saul finished their work in Jerusalem and they went back to the city of Antioch. They took John, whose other name was Mark, with them.