Discovery BoxActs 12:4 
Context12:4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads 1 of soldiers to guard him. Herod 2 planned 3 to bring him out for public trial 4 after the Passover.
Acts 12:6
Context12:6 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, while 6 guards in front of the door were keeping watch 7 over the prison.
1 sn Four squads of soldiers. Each squad was a detachment of four soldiers.
2 tn 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”).
3 tn Or “intended”; Grk “wanted.”
4 tn 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.”
5 tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.
6 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.
7 tn Or “were guarding.”
