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Acts 12:11
ESV When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
NIV Then Peter came to himself and said, 'Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.'
NASB When Peter came to himself, he said, 'Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.'
CSB 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."
NLT Peter finally came to his senses. 'It’s really true!' he said. 'The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!'
KJV And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

What does Acts 12:11 mean?

Peter was moments away from marching beside Roman soldiers out of prison to his execution. Herod Agrippa I had already beheaded James, John's brother, to the delight of the Sanhedrin (Acts 12:1–2). Agrippa realized that if he killed Peter the "Jewish people," including the Sanhedrin and the populace, would approve of him even more. So, he arrested Peter but held off the execution until after the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Before the guards could escort Peter to his beheading, an angel appeared and rescued him from his cell. Peter was not sure if this rescue was real or a vision. He has already been arrested twice and beaten once by the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:1–22; 5:17–40), but he also knows that he will be killed eventually. Jesus told him he would die with his hands stretched out, meaning crucifixion, but Jesus also said this would happen when Peter was old (John 21:18–19). Considering the calculated possible years of Jesus' ascension and the recorded timeframe of Agrippa I's reign over Judea, this is between eight and fourteen years after the crucifixion. Is Peter "old" yet? He doesn't seem sure.

What he is sure of is that God has a plan that Agrippa's "hand," or power and authority, cannot defy. Peter will stay and witness about Jesus as Jesus' instructed: "in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8), until his last breath, reportedly encouraging his own wife as they hang from crosses. But not yet. He has more work to do.
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