Discovery BoxActs 12:5-6 
Context12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but those in the church were earnestly 1 praying to God for him. 2 12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, 3 Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while 4 guards in front of the door were keeping watch 5 over the prison.
1 tn Or “constantly.” This term also appears in Luke 22:14 and Acts 26:7.
2 tn Grk “but earnest prayer was being made by the church to God for him.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged to follow English style, and the somewhat awkward passive “prayer was being made” has been changed to the simpler active verb “were praying.” Luke portrays what follows as an answer to prayer.
3 tn Grk “was going to bring him out,” but the upcoming trial is implied. See Acts 12:4.
4 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.
5 tn Or “were guarding.”
