Acts 12:4

And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison To keep him a prisoner till the termination of the feast.

and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep[guard] him A quaternion was a set of four men, which number was at one time occupied in the work of the guard, two soldiers being chained to the prisoner, and two keeping guard outside. These latter are called (Acts 12:10) "the first and second ward." There were four such sets appointed to have charge of Peter, one company for each of the four watches by day and by night.

intending after Easter(the Passover)] The rendering "Easter" is an attempt to give by an English word the notion of the whole feast. That this meaning and not the single day of the Paschal feast is intended by the Greek seems clear from the elaborate preparation made, as for a longer imprisonment than was the rule among the Jews. Peter was arrested at the commencement of the Passover feast (14th of Nisan), and the king's intention was to proceed to sentence and punish him when the feast was at an end on the 21st of Nisan.

to bring him forth to the people that they might take notice of the zeal for Judaism which would be shewn by the sentence passed upon Peter. The verb is employed by St Luke about the trial of Jesus (Luke 22:66), "As soon as it was day … they led him intotheir council."