Acts 12:6

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ¹  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ²  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ³  over the prison.

Acts 12:19

12:19 When Herod ⁴  had searched ⁵  for him and did not find him, he questioned ⁶  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ⁷  Then ⁸  Herod ⁹  went down from Judea to Caesarea ¹⁰  and stayed there.

Acts 12:10

12:10 After they had passed the first and second guards, ¹¹  they came to the iron ¹²  gate leading into the city. It ¹³  opened for them by itself, ¹⁴  and they went outside and walked down one narrow street, ¹⁵  when at once the angel left him.

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¹ tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.

² tn 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.

³ tn Or “were guarding.”

⁴ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

⁵ tn Or “had instigated a search” (Herod would have ordered the search rather than conducting it himself).

⁶ tn “Questioned” is used to translate ἀνακρίνας (anakrina") here because a possible translation offered by BDAG 66 s.v. ἀνακρίνω for this verse is “examined,” which could be understood to mean Herod inspected the guards rather than questioned them. The translation used by the NIV, “cross-examined,” also avoids this possible misunderstanding.

⁷ tn The meaning “led away to execution” for ἀπαχθῆναι (apacqhnai) in this verse is given by BDAG 95 s.v. ἀπάγω 2.c. Although an explicit reference to execution is lacking here, it is what would usually occur in such a case (Acts 16:27; 27:42; Code of Justinian 9.4.4). “Led away to torture” is a less likely option (Pliny the Younger, Letters 10, 96, 8).

⁸ tn Grk “and,” but the sequence of events is better expressed in English by “then.” A new sentence is begun in the translation because of the length of the sentence in Greek, which exceeds normal English sentence length.

⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Since Herod has been the subject of the preceding material, and the circumstances of his death are the subject of the following verses (20-23), it is best to understand Herod as the subject here. This is especially true since according to Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 [19.343-352], Herod Agrippa I died at Caesarea in a.d. 44, and vv. 20-23 here describe his death. Thus the end of v. 19 provides Luke’s transition to explain how Herod got from Jerusalem to Caesarea where he died. In spite of all this evidence, the NRSV translates this phrase “Then Peter went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there,” understanding the referent to be Peter rather than Herod Agrippa I.

sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great), who died at Caesarea in a.d. 44 according to Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 [19.343-352].

¹⁰ sn Caesarea was a city on the coast of Palestine south of Mount Carmel (not Caesarea Philippi). See the note on Caesarea in Acts 10:1.

map For location see Map2-C1; Map4-B3; Map5-F2; Map7-A1; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹¹ tn Or perhaps, “guard posts.”

¹² sn The iron gate shows how important security was here. This door was more secure than one made of wood (which would be usual).

¹³ tn Grk “which.” The relative pronoun (“which”) was replaced by the pronoun “it,” and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

¹⁴ tn The Greek term here, αὐτομάτη (automath), indicates something that happens without visible cause (BDAG 152 s.v. αὐτόματος).

¹⁵ tn Or “lane,” “alley” (BDAG 907 s.v. ῥύμη).