Acts 12:13 - Exposition

When he for as Peter, A.V. and T.R.; maid for damsel, A.V.; to answer for to hearken, A.V. ( ὑπακοῦσαι ) . The door of the gate (see Acts 10:17 , note). To hearken or listen seems the best rendering. It is the phrase proper to a doorkeeper, whoso business it is to go to the door and listen when any one knocks, and find out what their business is before opening the door. This is the primary sense of the word; that of answering after listening is a secondary sense. At a time of such alarm to Christians a knock at the door in the dead of the night would carry terror with it, and careful listening to ascertain whether there was more than one person, and then to ask who was there and what was his business, was the natural course.