The Rescue of Peter

So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly[fn] praying to God for him.

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On [the] night [before] Herod was to bring him [to trial] Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, with sentries standing guard at the entrance to the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of [the] Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on the side [and] woke him up saying,“Get up vvv quickly.” And the chains fell off [his] wrists. 8 “Get dressed and put on your sandals,” said the angel Peter did so, and [the angel] told him,“Wrap your cloak {around you} and follow me.”

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[So] [Peter] followed him out, [but] vvv he was unaware that what the angel was doing was real. He thought vvv he was only seeing a vision. 10 They passed [the] first and second guards [and] came to the iron gate leading to the city, which opened for them by itself. [When] they had gone outside [and] walked the length of one block, the angel suddenly left him.

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Then Peter came to himself [and] said,“Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and [from] everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

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And [when] he had realized [this], he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, [also] called Mark, where many [people] vvv had gathered together and were praying. 13 Peter[fn] knocked [at] the vvv vvv outer gate, [and] a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer [it]. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, vvv vvv she was so overjoyed [that] vvv she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside [and] announced“Peter is standing at the gate!”

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“You are out of your mind,” they told her. But [when] she kept insisting [it] was so, they said,“It must be his angel.”

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But Peter kept on knocking, and [when] they opened [the door] [and] saw him, they were astounded. 17 [Peter] motioned with [his] hand for silence, [and] he described how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.“Send word to James and to the brothers,” he said, and he left for another place.

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At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become [of] Peter. 19 [After] Herod had searched for him vvv vvv [unsuccessfully], he examined the guards [and] ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea [and] spent some time [there].

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