Acts 12:4

12:4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads¹ of soldiers to guard him. Herod² planned³ to bring him out for public trial⁴ after the Passover.

Acts 12:6-7

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial,⁵ Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while⁶ guards in front of the door were keeping watch⁷ over the prison. 12:7 Suddenly⁸ an angel of the Lord⁹ appeared, and a light shone in the prison cell. He struck¹⁰ Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly!” And the chains fell off Peter’s¹¹ wrists.¹²

Acts 16:26-27

16:26 Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds¹³ of all the prisoners came loose. 16:27 When the jailer woke up¹⁴ and saw the doors of the prison standing open,¹⁵ he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,¹⁶ because he assumed¹⁷ the prisoners had escaped.

¹sn Four squads of soldiers. Each squad was a detachment of four soldiers.

²tn Grk “guard him, planning to bring him out.” The Greek construction continues with a participle (βουλόμενος, boulomeno") and an infinitive (ἀναγαγεῖν, anagagein), but this creates an awkward and lengthy sentence in English. Thus a reference to Herod was introduced as subject and the participle translated as a finite verb (“Herod planned”).

³tn Or “intended”; Grk “wanted.”

⁴tn Grk “to bring him out to the people,” but in this context a public trial (with certain condemnation as the result) is doubtless what Herod planned. L&N 15.176 translates this phrase “planning to bring him up for a public trial after the Passover.”

⁵tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

⁶tn Grk “two chains, and.” Logically it makes better sense to translate this as a temporal clause, although technically it is a coordinate clause in Greek.

⁷tn Or “were guarding.”

⁸tn Grk “And behold.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here. The interjection ἰδού (idou), often difficult to translate into English, expresses the suddenness of the angel’s appearance.

⁹tn Or “the angel of the Lord.” See the note on the word “Lord” in 5:19.

¹⁰tn Grk “striking the side of Peter, he awoke him saying.” The term refers to a push or a light tap (BDAG 786 s.v. πατάσσω 1.a). The participle πατάξας (pataxa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

¹¹tn Grk “his”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹²tn Grk “the hands,” but the wrist was considered a part of the hand.

¹³tn Or perhaps, “chains.” The translation of τὰ δεσμά (ta desma) is to some extent affected by the understanding of ξύλον (xulon, “stocks”) in v. 24. It is possible (as mentioned in L&N 18.12) that this does not mean “stocks” but a block of wood (a log or wooden column) in the prison to which prisoners’ feet were chained or tied.

¹⁴tn L&N 23.75 has “had awakened” here. It is more in keeping with contemporary English style, however, to keep the two verbal ideas parallel in terms of tense (“when the jailer woke up and saw”) although logically the second action is subsequent to the first.

¹⁵tn The additional semantic component “standing” is supplied (“standing open”) to convey a stative nuance in English.

¹⁶sn Was about to kill himself. The jailer’s penalty for failing to guard the prisoners would have been death, so he contemplated saving the leaders the trouble (see Acts 12:19; 27:42).

¹⁷tn Or “thought.”