The Variant Readings of the Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles 147 The second sequence (12:5-17) describes Herod’s attack on Peter and his miraculous escape; the third (12:18-23) shows the events leading up to Herod’s death. The colophon (12:24-25) brings Section IV as well as this second part of Acts to a close, with a backwards look at Section III (11:30) that causes an overlap between sections by the mention of Barnabas and Saul. A similar overlap was seen in the link between the end of the first part of Acts (1:1–5:42) and the beginning of the second (6:1–12:25), in the colophon to the first part that was held over to 6:7. The structure of Acts, through carefully constructed, does not always form neat, self-contained boxes in a way that contemporary analysts may expect it to: [A] 12:1-4 Herod’s persecution of the church in Judaea [B] 12:5-17 Peter’s escape from prison [A’] 12:18-23 The death of Herod Colophon 12:24-25 Conclusion The first sequence sets the scene in Judaea, implicitly in the AT but explicitly in the Bezan text. In the second sequence, the scene goes from the prison where Peter is kept, to the city and finally to the house of Mary. The third and final sequence starts in Jerusalem but quickly moves to Caesarea. [A] 12:1-4 Herod’s Persecution of the Church in Judaea Once the narrative framework is established by relating the new action to the previous section, the first sequence brings on stage without further ado the new character, Herod, and focuses immediately on his attacks on the church in Judaea. His killing of James is simply stated before moving on to present in greater detail his arrest of Peter who will become the principal character of the second, central sequence [B] of this section. As for Herod, he will be returned to in the final sequence [A’]. The time of year, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, is stated in an aside which the narrator makes in order to provide the first of several clues concerning the theological significance of the incidents in this section. Translation Codex Bezae D05 Codex Vaticanus B03 [a] 12:1 It was on that particular occasion 12:1 It was on that particular occasion that Herod the king laid hands violently that Herod the king laid hands viol- on some of the people from the church ently on some of the people from the in Judaea in order to ill-treat them; church in order to ill-treat them.