But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out, saying,
Parallel translations
- WEB But an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors by night, and brought them out, and said,
- KJV But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
- NKJV But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said,
- NASB But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison, and leading them out, he said,
- NLT But an angel of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out. Then he told them,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
An angel of the Lord opens the prison by night and frees the apostles. God overrules human opposition to His messengers.
Overview
The angelic rescue shows that no human authority can finally imprison those God sends. It demonstrates God's active care for His witnesses and His sovereign control over events. The deliverance also serves the gospel, freeing the apostles to keep preaching rather than simply to escape.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Acts 16:26Suddenly a strong earthquake shook the foundations of the prison. At once all the doors flew open and everyone’s chains came loose.
- Ps 34:7The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, and he delivers them.
- Acts 12:7–11Suddenly 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 quickly.” And the chains fell off his wrists.
- Acts 8:26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.”
- Acts 27:23For just last night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood beside me
- Ps 105:17–20He sent a man before them—Joseph, sold as a slave.
- Ps 146:7He executes justice for the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free,
- Matt 1:20But after he had pondered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to embrace Mary as your wife, for the One conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
- Isa 61:1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
- Luke 1:11Just then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Acts is the risen Christ continuing his work by the Spirit through the church, as the apostles preach that there is salvation in no other name under heaven.
How Acts 5:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.