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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Acts 12 CEV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/acts/12.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/acts/12-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">CEV</a> > Acts 12</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../acts/11.htm" title="Acts 11">◄</a> Acts 12 <a href="../acts/13.htm" title="Acts 13">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Herod Causes Trouble for the Church</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_1"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.1" class="v44_12_1">1</span>At that time King Herod<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.12.1!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> caused terrible suffering for some members of the church. </span><span class="v44_12_2"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.2" class="v44_12_2">2</span>He ordered soldiers to cut off the head of James, the brother of John. </span><span class="v44_12_3"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.3" class="v44_12_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.12.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> When Herod saw that this pleased the Jewish people, he had Peter arrested during the Festival of Thin Bread. </span><span class="v44_12_4"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.4" class="v44_12_4">4</span>He put Peter in jail and ordered four squads of soldiers to guard him. Herod planned to put him on trial in public after the festival.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_5"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.5" class="v44_12_5">5</span>While Peter was being kept in jail, the church never stopped praying to God for him.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Peter Is Rescued</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_6"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.6" class="v44_12_6">6</span>The night before Peter was to be put on trial, he was asleep and bound by two chains. A soldier was guarding him on each side, and two other soldiers were guarding the entrance to the jail. </span><span class="v44_12_7"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.7" class="v44_12_7">7</span>Suddenly an angel from the Lord appeared, and light flashed around in the cell. The angel poked Peter in the side and woke him up. Then he said, “Quick! Get up!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_7">The chains fell off his hands, </span><span class="v44_12_8"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.8" class="v44_12_8">8</span>and the angel said, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” Peter did what he was told. Then the angel said, “Now put on your coat and follow me.” </span><span class="v44_12_9"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.9" class="v44_12_9">9</span>Peter left with the angel, but he thought everything was only a dream. </span><span class="v44_12_10"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.10" class="v44_12_10">10</span>They went past the two groups of soldiers, and when they came to the iron gate to the city, it opened by itself. They went out and were going along the street, when all at once the angel disappeared.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_11"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.11" class="v44_12_11">11</span>Peter now realized what had happened, and he said, “I am certain that the Lord sent his angel to rescue me from Herod and from everything the Jewish leaders planned to do to me.” </span><span class="v44_12_12"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.12" class="v44_12_12">12</span>Then Peter went to the house of Mary the mother of John whose other name was Mark. Many of the Lord's followers had come together there and were praying.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_13"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.13" class="v44_12_13">13</span>Peter knocked on the gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer. </span><span class="v44_12_14"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.14" class="v44_12_14">14</span>When she heard Peter's voice, she was too excited to open the gate. She ran back into the house and said Peter was standing there.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_15"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.15" class="v44_12_15">15</span>“You are crazy!” everyone told her. But she kept saying it was Peter. Then they said, “It must be his angel.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.12.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v44_12_16"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.16" class="v44_12_16">16</span>But Peter kept on knocking, until finally they opened the gate. They saw him and were completely amazed.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_17"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.17" class="v44_12_17">17</span>Peter motioned for them to keep quiet. Then he told how the Lord had led him out of jail. He also said, “Tell James<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.12.17!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> and the others what has happened.” After that, he left and went somewhere else.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_18"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.18" class="v44_12_18">18</span>The next morning the soldiers who had been on guard were terribly worried and wondered what had happened to Peter. </span><span class="v44_12_19"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.19" class="v44_12_19">19</span>Herod ordered his own soldiers to search for him, but they could not find him. Then he questioned the guards and had them put to death. After this, Herod left Judea to stay in Caesarea for a while.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Herod Dies</h3><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_20"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.20" class="v44_12_20">20</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.12.20!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Herod and the people of Tyre and Sidon were very angry with each other. But their country got its food supply from the region that he ruled. So a group of them went to see Blastus, who was one of Herod's high officials. They convinced Blastus that they wanted to make peace between their cities and Herod, </span><span class="v44_12_21"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.21" class="v44_12_21">21</span>and a day was set for them to meet with him.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_21">Herod came dressed in his royal robes. He sat down on his throne and made a speech. </span><span class="v44_12_22"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.22" class="v44_12_22">22</span>The people shouted, “You speak more like a god than a man!” </span><span class="v44_12_23"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.23" class="v44_12_23">23</span>At once an angel from the Lord struck him down because he took the honor that belonged to God. Later, Herod was eaten by worms and died.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v44_12_24"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.24" class="v44_12_24">24</span>God's message kept spreading. </span><span class="v44_12_25"><span class="reftext" id="Acts.12.25" class="v44_12_25">25</span>And after Barnabas and Saul had done the work they were sent to do, they went back to Jerusalem<a href="#fn" id="link_Acts.12.25!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> with John, whose other name was Mark.</span></p> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.1 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Herod: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.15 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">his angel: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Probably meaning “his guardian angel.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.17 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">James: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The brother of the Lord.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">12.25 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">went back to Jerusalem: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Some manuscripts have “left Jerusalem,” and others have “went to Antioch.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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