Psalm 133, CSB
A song of ascents. Of David.
How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony!
It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing— life forevermore.
Psalm 134, CSB
A song of ascents.
Now bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who stand in the Lord’s house at night!
Lift up your hands in the holy place and bless the Lord!
May the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
Proverbs 28:23–28, CSB
One who rebukes a person will later find more favor than one who flatters with his tongue.
The one who robs his father or mother and says, “That’s no sin,” is a companion to a person who destroys.
A greedy person stirs up conflict, but whoever trusts in the Lord will prosper.
The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
The one who gives to the poor will not be in need, but one who turns his eyes away will receive many curses.
When the wicked come to power, people hide, but when they are destroyed, the righteous flourish.
Acts 12:1–19, CSB
About that time King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.
When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
After the arrest, he put him in prison and assigned four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying fervently to God for him.
When Herod was about to bring him out for trial, that very night Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while the sentries in front of the door guarded the prison.
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. Striking Peter on the side, he woke him up and said, “Quick, get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.
“Get dressed,” the angel told him, “and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Wrap your cloak around you,” he told him, “and follow me.”
So he went out and followed, and he did not know that what the angel did was really happening, but he thought he was seeing a vision.
After they passed the first and second guards, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened to them by itself. They went outside and passed one street, and suddenly the angel left him.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”
As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many had assembled and were praying.
He knocked at the door of the outer gate, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer.
She recognized Peter’s voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.
“You’re out of your mind!” they told her. But she kept insisting that it was true, and they said, “It’s his angel.”
Peter, however, kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.
Motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. “Tell these things to James and the brothers,” he said, and he left and went to another place.
At daylight, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter.
After Herod had searched and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and ordered their execution. Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.
