Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 12:4

"And when he had taken him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to guard him; intending after the Passover to bring him forth to the people." — Acts 12:4 (ASV)

Delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers.—Agrippa apparently followed the lessons of Roman practice which he had learned by his own experience. The four quaternions relieved each other at set times, and the prisoner was chained to two of the soldiers of each company, while the others were stationed as sentinels at the door of the dungeon. (Compare to St. Paul's chains in Acts 28:20; Ephesians 6:20.)

Intending after Easter.—Better, after the Passover, as elsewhere. In this solitary instance the translators have introduced, with a singular infelicity, the term which was definitely appropriate only to the Christian festival which took the place of the Passover.