The intimation of this verse is that Peter was chained to each of the two guards who slept beside him. It may be useful to indicate specifically how Peter was bound by the two chains, namely, “one chain bound him to a guard on one side and another chain bound him to a guard on the other side.”

The reference to guards on duty at the prison gate may be translated as “soldiers were guarding the door to the prison.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Acts of the Apostles. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1972. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .