Book Acts of the Apostles Order in the Bible part 5 | Bible part New Testament Category Church history | |
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Acts 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the death of the first apostle, James, son of Zebedee, followed by the miraculous escape of Peter from prison, the death of Herod Agrippa I, and the early ministry of Barnabas and Paul of Tarsus. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke.
Contents
Text
The original text is written in Koine Greek and is divided into 25 verses. Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter are:
Location
This chapter mentions the following places:
Structure
This chapter can be grouped:
Timescale
Meyer estimated that these events took place in 44 AD, the year of the death of Herod Agrippa, at the same time as the prophets from Jerusalem travelled to Antioch and returned with aid for the Judean church. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges suggests 43 AD.
Verse 7
Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands.This verse is referred to in Charles Wesley's hymn And Can It Be.
Verse 12
So, when he (Simon Peter) had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.Verse 23
Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him (Herod), because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.Verse 25
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.Peter Freed from Prison
This part of the chapter tells that Peter was put into prison by King Herod, but the night before his trial an angel appeared to him, and told him to leave. Peter's chains fell off, and he followed the angel out of prison, thinking it was a vision (verse 9). The prison doors opened of their own accord, and the angel led Peter into the city.