Acts 5:17-26 - The Apostles Arrested And Imprisoned

¹⁷ But the head priest and the Jewish sect of the Sadducees became very jealous, ¹⁸ and arrested the apostles and put them in jail. ¹⁹ But an angel from the Lord one night [miraculously] opened the jail doors and released them, saying, ²⁰ "You men, go and stand in the Temple and speak to all the people words about this Life [i.e., about Jesus]." [See John 14:6]. ²¹ And when the apostles heard this, they entered the Temple about dawn and began teaching [about Jesus]. [A little later] the head priest and the Sadducees [see verse 17] called the Council [i.e., the Sanhedrin] and all of the ruling body of Jewish leaders together and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought in to them [for further questioning]. ²² But when the officers arrived at the jail the apostles were gone, so they returned to the Council and reported, ²³ "We found the jail securely locked, with guards on duty at the doors, but when we went inside there was no one there!" ²⁴ Now when the captain of the Temple [guard] and the leading priests heard about this, they became frustrated over how far this [teaching] would [eventually] spread.

²⁵ [Just then] someone came in and said, "Look, the men you put in jail are [now] standing in the Temple teaching people." ²⁶ [Immediately] the captain, with his officers, went [to the Temple] and brought the apostles back again, but did not use any violence because they feared that the people might stone them.