Acts 12:2

2 He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword.

Acts 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Acts 12:2

And he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
] This was James, the son of Zebedee, whom our Lord told, that he should be baptized with the baptism he was baptized with, ( Matthew 20:22 ) meaning the baptism of martyrdom; and he was the first martyr among the apostles: the death he was put to was one of the four capital punishments among the Jews, and was reckoned by them the most disgraceful of them all, and was inflicted upon deceivers of the people; and such an one James was thought to be F5.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 1, 3. & 11. 4.

Acts 12:2 In-Context

1 During that same time King Herod began to mistreat some who belonged to the church.
2 He ordered James, the brother of John, to be killed by the sword.
3 Herod saw that the Jewish people liked this, so he decided to arrest Peter, too. (This happened during the time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.)
4 After Herod arrested Peter, he put him in jail and handed him over to be guarded by sixteen soldiers. Herod planned to bring Peter before the people for trial after the Passover Feast.
5 So Peter was kept in jail, but the church prayed earnestly to God for him.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.