Acts 12:12-19

12:12 When Peter ¹  realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, ²  where many people had gathered together and were praying. 12:13 When he knocked at the door of the outer gate, a slave girl named Rhoda answered. ³  12:14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she did not open the gate, but ran back in and told ⁴  them ⁵  that Peter was standing at the gate. 12:15 But they said to her, “You’ve lost your mind!” ⁶  But she kept insisting that it was Peter, ⁷  and they kept saying, ⁸  “It is his angel!” ⁹  12:16 Now Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door ¹⁰  and saw him, they were greatly astonished. ¹¹  12:17 He motioned to them ¹²  with his hand to be quiet and then related ¹³  how the Lord had brought ¹⁴  him out of the prison. He said, “Tell James and the brothers these things,” and then he left and went to another place. ¹⁵ 

12:18 At daybreak ¹⁶  there was great consternation ¹⁷  among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 12:19 When Herod ¹⁸  had searched ¹⁹  for him and did not find him, he questioned ²⁰  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ²¹  Then ²²  Herod ²³  went down from Judea to Caesarea ²⁴  and stayed there.

[12:12]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:12]  ² tn Grk “John who was also called Mark.”

[12:13]  ³ tn Or “responded.”

[12:14]  ⁵ tn Or “informed.”

[12:14]  ⁶ tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[12:15]  ⁷ sn “You’ve lost your mind!” Such a response to the miraculous is not unusual in Luke-Acts. See Luke 24:11; Acts 26:25. The term μαίνομαι (mainomai) can have the idea of being “raving mad” or “totally irrational” (BDAG 610 s.v.). It is a strong expression.

[12:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “she kept insisting that the situation was thus” (cf. BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a). Most translations supply a less awkward English phrase like “it was so”; the force of her insistence, however, is that “it was Peter,” which was the point under dispute.

[12:15]  ⁹ tn The two imperfect tense verbs, διϊσχυρίζετο (diiscurizeto) and ἔλεγον (elegon), are both taken iteratively. The picture is thus virtually a shouting match between Rhoda and the rest of the believers.

[12:15]  ¹⁰ sn The assumption made by those inside, “It is his angel,” seems to allude to the idea of an attending angel (cf. Gen 48:16 LXX; Matt 18:10; Test. Jacob 1:10).

[12:16]  ⁹ tn The words “the door” are not in the Greek text, but are implied (see Acts 12:13).

[12:16]  ¹⁰ sn That they were greatly astonished is a common response in Luke-Acts to God’s work (Luke 8:56; Acts 2:7, 12; 8:13; 9:21; 10:45).

[12:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “He gave them a signal.” Grk “Giving them a signal…he related to them.” The participle κατασείσας (kataseisa") has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[12:17]  ¹² tc ‡ Most mss, including some of the most important ones (B D E Ψ Ï sy), read αὐτοῖς (autoi", “to them”) here, while some excellent and early witnesses (Ì^45vid,74vid א A 33 81 945 1739 pc) lack the pronoun. Although it is possible that the pronoun was deleted because it was seen as superfluous, it is also possible that it was added as a natural expansion on the text, strengthening the connection between Peter and his listeners. Although a decision is difficult, the shorter reading is slightly preferred. NA²⁷ puts the pronoun in brackets, indicating some doubts as to its authenticity.

[12:17]  ¹³ tn Or “led.”

[12:17]  ¹⁴ sn He…went to another place. This is Peter’s last appearance in Acts with the exception of the Jerusalem council in Acts 15.

[12:18]  ¹³ tn BDAG 436 s.v. ἡμέρα 1.a has “day is breaking” for ἡμέρα γίνεται (Jhmera ginetai) in this verse.

[12:18]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “no little consternation.” The translation given for τάραχος (taraco") in this verse by BDAG 991 s.v. τάραχος 1 is “mental agitation.” The situation indicated by the Greek word is described in L&N 25.243 as “a state of acute distress and great anxiety, with the additional possible implications of dismay and confusion – ‘great distress, extreme anxiety.’” The English word “consternation” is preferred here because it conveys precisely such a situation of anxiety mixed with fear. The reason for this anxiety is explained in the following verse.

[12:19]  ¹⁵ sn King Herod was Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod I (Herod the Great).

[12:19]  ¹⁶ tn Or “had instigated a search” (Herod would have ordered the search rather than conducting it himself).

[12:19]  ¹⁷ 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.

[12:19]  ¹⁸ 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).

[12:19]  ¹⁹ 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.

[12:19]  ²⁰ 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.

[12:19]  ²¹ 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.