Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 12:5

"Peter therefore was kept in the prison: but prayer was made earnestly of the church unto God for him." — Acts 12:5 (ASV)

Prayer was made without ceasing.—The adjective is rendered by “fervent” in 1 Peter 4:8, and implies, as in the marginal reading, intensity as well as continuity. The words imply that the members of the Church continued, in spite of the persecution, to meet as usual, probably, as in Acts 12:12, in the house of Mary, the mother of Mark.