Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Acts 12:19 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 19. 19And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judæa to Cæsarea, and there abode.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Describes Herod's failed search, guard examination and execution, and move to Caesarea.
Read It With
- Acts 12:6–12:19
Acts 12:19 describes Herod's failed search, guard examination and execution, and move to Caesarea; within Acts 12:6–12:19, the controlling movement is that An angel awakens and escorts Peter through the prison, he goes to Mary's house, Rhoda recognizes his voice but leaves him outside in joy, and Herod interrogates and executes the guards.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Describes Herod's failed search, guard examination and execution, and move to Caesarea. This precise contribution belongs inside “Peter is freed while the praying house struggles to believe” because An angel awakens and escorts Peter through the prison, he goes to Mary's house, Rhoda recognizes his voice but leaves him outside in joy, and Herod interrogates and executes the guards.
Follow the Context
- An angel awakens and escorts Peter through the prison, he goes to Mary's house, Rhoda recognizes his voice but leaves him outside in joy, and Herod interrogates and executes the guards.
- The unit distinguishes narrated event, participant speech, the narrator's framing, material uncertainty, and the ethical boundary: The rescue does not promise every prisoner escape, mock Rhoda's testimony, excuse execution of guards, or make prayer a technique for controlling outcomes.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
The rescue does not promise every prisoner escape, mock Rhoda's testimony, excuse execution of guards, or make prayer a technique for controlling outcomes.
What Remains True
Because Acts 12:19 describes Herod's failed search, guard examination and execution, and move to Caesarea, faithful witness must preserve the verse's speaker, narrated setting, people affected, and the full movement of Acts 12:6–12:19 before drawing an enduring claim.
How It Can Shape Life
- For Acts 12:19, first identify this verse role—describes Herod's failed search, guard examination and execution, and move to Caesarea; then explain the contextual meaning in Acts 12:6–12:19; preserve the proportionate truth about accountable witness; finally apply this boundary: The rescue does not promise every prisoner escape, mock Rhoda's testimony, excuse execution of guards, or make prayer a technique for controlling outcomes.
Teach It Back
Explain Acts 12:19's precise role in Acts 12:6–12:19. Distinguish narrator and speaker, include the first Jewish, Gentile, household, disabled, enslaved, imprisoned, or Roman horizon as relevant, disclose the material uncertainty, and name one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Acts 12:6–12:19 — Peter is freed while the praying house struggles to believeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
The comic disbelief at the house coexists with lethal consequences for guards under Herod; manuscripts and idioms around Peter's angel invite caution.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and unit coverage.
Exact location: Acts 12:6–12:19, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and punctuation control, without pretending one edition is a complete apparatus.
Exact location: SBLGNT official text, Acts 12:6-12:19
Open the Acts Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Morphology and lexical cross-check for words explicitly discussed in this unit.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data, TAGNT rows for Acts 12:6-12:19
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Acts
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-attached textual, translation, language, geography, chronology, and historical notes actually printed for the unit.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Acts PDF, printed pp. 2104-2205, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to 12:6–12:19
Open source ↗open university bible study course
Acts of the Apostles Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2019
Supports: Introductory critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, with contested judgments retained as interpretations.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Acts course, course unit 'Gentiles Join the Movement,' Acts 9-12 study guide
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
The Acts of the Apostles
Alan J. Thompson
The Gospel Coalition, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional commentary reading, independently checked against the text and critical controls.
Exact location: Thompson, online Acts commentary, heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Acts 12:6–12:19
Open source ↗primary manuscript transcription
Codex Bezae: Electronic Transcription of Acts
International Greek New Testament Project
Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing, University of Birmingham, 2012 transcription; current online edition
Supports: Direct manuscript evidence only where a material Western reading is named; Bezae is not treated as the Western text as a whole.
Exact location: IGNTP Codex Bezae Acts transcription, verse-addressable witness at 12:6–12:19, checked with SBLGNT and the NET tc note
Open source ↗