Acts 12:1

James is Killed and Peter Imprisoned

12:1 About that time King Herod ¹  laid hands on ²  some from the church to harm them. ³ 

Acts 12:6

12:6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, ⁴  Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while ⁵  guards in front of the door were keeping watch ⁶  over the prison.

Acts 12:11

12:11 When ⁷  Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued ⁸  me from the hand ⁹  of Herod ¹⁰  and from everything the Jewish people ¹¹  were expecting to happen.”

Acts 12:21

12:21 On a day determined in advance, Herod ¹²  put on his royal robes, ¹³  sat down on the judgment seat, ¹⁴  and made a speech ¹⁵  to them.

¹ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great). His mediocre career is summarized in Josephus, Ant. 18-19. This event took place in a.d. 42 or 43.

² tn Or “King Herod had some from the church arrested.”

³ tn Or “to cause them injury.”

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

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Or “were guarding.”

⁷ tn Grk “And when.” 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.

⁸ tn Or “delivered.”

⁹ sn Here the hand of Herod is a metaphor for Herod’s power or control.

¹⁰ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

¹¹ sn Luke characterizes the opposition here as the Jewish people, including their leadership (see 12:3).

¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Or “apparel.” On Herod’s robes see Josephus, Ant. 19.8.2 (19.344), summarized in the note at the end of v. 23.

¹² tn Although BDAG 175 s.v. βῆμα 3 gives the meaning “speaker’s platform” for this verse, and a number of modern translations use similar terms (“rostrum,” NASB; “platform,” NRSV), since the bema was a standard feature in Greco-Roman cities of the time, there is no need for an alternative translation here.

¹³ tn Or “delivered a public address.”