King Herod puts Peter in prison
1 At that time, King Herod took hold of some of the group of believers in Jerusalem. He wanted to cause them to suffer. 2 He sent his soldiers to cut off James's head. James was John's brother.
12:2James and John were sons of Zebedee. King Herod killed James about 10 years after Jesus became alive again.
3 King Herod saw that the Jews were happy because he had killed James. So he sent his soldiers to take hold of Peter too. This happened during the Festival of Flat Bread.
12:3The Jews usually made bread with yeast, flour and water. But during the week of the Passover festival they did not use any yeast in their bread.
4 After the soldiers caught Peter, they put him in prison. While he was in prison, four different groups of soldiers guarded him. There were four soldiers in each group. Herod wanted to judge Peter in front of everybody. After the Passover festival had finished, he would bring Peter out of the prison to do this.
12:4Each group of soldiers guarded the prison for four hours. When one group stopped the next group started. They did this day and night.
5 So Herod kept Peter in prison. But during that time, the group of believers prayed that God would help Peter.
