Acts 12:1-9

1At that time, King Herod took hold of some of the group of believers in Jerusalem. He wanted to cause them to suffer.

2He sent his soldiers to cut off James's head. James was John's brother.

3King Herod saw that the Jews were happy because he had killed James. So he sent his soldiers to take hold of Peter too. This happened during the Festival of Flat Bread.

4After the soldiers caught Peter, they put him in prison. While he was in prison, four different groups of soldiers guarded him. There were four soldiers in each group. Herod wanted to judge Peter in front of everybody. After the Passover festival had finished, he would bring Peter out of the prison to do this.

5So Herod kept Peter in prison. But during that time, the group of believers prayed that God would help Peter.

6It was the night before King Herod wanted to bring Peter out of the prison and judge him. The soldiers had tied Peter to themselves with chains. So Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. Some other soldiers were guarding the doors of the prison.

7Then, an angel from the Lord God suddenly appeared in the prison. A bright light shone in the room where Peter was sleeping. The angel touched Peter's shoulder so that Peter woke up. He said to Peter, ‘Hurry! Stand up!’ Immediately the chains fell off Peter's hands.

8Then the angel said to him, ‘Put on your clothes and your shoes.’ Peter did what the angel told him to do. Then the angel said, ‘Now put on your coat and follow me.’

9So Peter followed the angel out of the prison. He was not sure that all these things were really happening to him. He thought that he might be dreaming.