John 18
Modern English Version
The Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus(A)
18 When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley. There was a garden which He and His disciples entered.
2 Now Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with His disciples. 3 So Judas, having taken a detachment of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.
4 Jesus therefore, knowing everything that would happen to Him, went forward and said to them, “Whom do you seek?”
5 They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
Jesus said to them, “I am He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them. 6 When He said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 Again Jesus asked them, “Whom do you seek?”
They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He. So then let these go their way if you are looking for Me.” 9 This was to fulfill the word which He had spoken, “I have lost none of those whom You have given Me.”
10 Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
11 Then Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
Jesus Before the High Priest(B)
12 Then the detachment of soldiers and the commander and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus and bound Him. 13 First they led Him to Annas, for he was the father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. 14 Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it was expedient that one man should die for the people.
Peter’s Denial of Jesus(C)
15 Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple was known to the high priest and went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest. 16 But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.
17 Then the servant girl, being the doorkeeper, said to Peter, “Are you not also one of this Man’s disciples?”
He said, “I am not.”
18 Now the servants and officers stood there and warmed themselves, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. Peter also stood with them and warmed himself.
The High Priest Questions Jesus(D)
19 The high priest then asked Jesus about His disciples and His teaching.
20 Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and I said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask Me? Ask those who heard Me and what I have said to them. Certainly they know what I said.”
22 When He had said this, one of the officers who stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Is that how You answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil, but if well, why do you strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Peter Denies Jesus Again(E)
25 Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “Are you not also one of His disciples?”
He denied it and said, “I am not!”
26 One of the servants of the high priest, being a relative of the man whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with Him?” 27 Peter then denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.
Jesus Before Pilate(F)
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was early. Yet they themselves did not enter the Praetorium, so that they might not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. 29 Pilate then went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”
30 They answered him, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have handed Him over to you.”
31 Then Pilate said, “Take Him and judge Him according to your law.”
The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,” 32 that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke, signifying what death He would die.
33 Again Pilate entered the Praetorium, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking of your own accord, or did others tell you about Me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight, that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from here.”
37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, “Then are You a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
38 Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him at all.
Jesus Sentenced to Die(G)
39 “But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
40 They all shouted again, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.
John 18
EasyEnglish Bible
Soldiers take Jesus to the leader of the priests
18 When Jesus had finished praying, he and his disciples went out. They went across the Kidron valley. On the other side, there was a garden. Jesus and his disciples went into it. 2 Judas, who sold Jesus to his enemies, knew the garden. He knew the place because Jesus and his disciples had met there often. 3 The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees sent a group of soldiers and some officers with Judas. He led these soldiers and officers to the garden.[a] The soldiers had weapons and they carried lights.
4 Jesus knew everything that would soon happen to him. He went towards them and he asked them, ‘Who are you looking for?’ 5 They answered, ‘Jesus, who comes from Nazareth.’ Jesus said, ‘That is who I am.’
Judas, who sold Jesus to his enemies, was standing there with the soldiers. 6 When Jesus said the words, ‘I am,’ the soldiers quickly moved away from him.[b] They fell down to the ground. 7 So Jesus asked them again, ‘Who are you looking for?’ They said, ‘Jesus, who comes from Nazareth.’ 8 Jesus replied, ‘I have told you already, that is who I am. Since it is me that you are looking for, let these other men go.’ 9 Jesus said this because earlier he had said, ‘I have lost none of those people that you gave to me.’ This made what he had spoken earlier really happen.
10 Simon Peter had a sword. He took hold of it and he attacked the servant of the leader of the priests. He cut off the servant's right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 Then Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword away in its place! My Father has decided what great pain I must have. I will obey him completely.’
12 The group of soldiers, with their captain and the Jewish officers, took hold of Jesus. They tied him with ropes. 13 They led him first to Annas, who was the father of Caiaphas's wife. Caiaphas was the leader of the priests that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had already spoken to the Jewish leaders. He had told them, ‘It is better that one man should die on behalf of the people.’[c]
Peter says that he does not know Jesus
15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple and the leader of the priests knew each other. So that disciple went with Jesus into the yard of the house of the leader of the priests. 16 But Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went out again. He spoke to the girl who was watching at the gate. Then he brought Peter into the yard. 17 The girl who was at the gate asked Peter, ‘Are you another of this man's disciples?’ Peter replied, ‘No, I am not!’
18 It was cold. So the servants and the officers had made a fire. They were standing around it to make themselves warm. Peter went to stand with them, so that he could make himself warm too.
The leader of the priests asks Jesus questions
19 The leader of the priests asked Jesus questions about his disciples. He also asked about what Jesus taught. 20 Jesus answered him, ‘I have always taught in the Jewish meeting places, or at the temple. Those are public places where all the Jews meet together. I have said nothing secretly. 21 So you do not need to ask me these questions. You can ask the people who heard me when I taught them. They know what I said.’
22 When Jesus said this, one of the soldiers hit him on the face. The soldier said, ‘You should not speak to the leader of the priests like that!’ 23 Jesus replied, ‘If I said something wrong, tell us what it is. But if I said something that is true, you should not have hit me.’[d] 24 Then Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the leader of the priests.[e] Jesus still had ropes tied round his arms.
Peter says again that he does not know Jesus
25 Simon Peter was still standing there by the fire to make himself warm. The other people there said to him, ‘You must also be one of that man's disciples.’ But Peter said, ‘No, I am not.’
26 One of the people there was a servant of the leader of the priests. He belonged to the same family as the man whose ear Peter had cut off. This servant said to Peter, ‘I am sure that I saw you in the garden with Jesus.’ 27 Again, Peter said, ‘No, that is not true.’ Immediately a cockerel sang.
Pilate asks Jesus questions
28 The Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman ruler's big house.[f] It was early in the morning. The Jewish leaders wanted to follow the Jewish rules so that they could eat the Passover meal. They did not go into the ruler's house, because it would have made them unclean.[g]
29 So Pilate, the Roman ruler, went outside to meet them. He asked them, ‘What wrong thing do you say that this man has done?’ 30 They replied, ‘We would not have brought him to you if he had done nothing wrong.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘You yourselves take him away. You should judge him by your own laws.’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘We do not have authority to kill anyone when they have done something bad.’[h] 32 Jesus had already told people how he would die. These things happened to make his words become true.[i]
33 Pilate went back inside his palace. He told Jesus to come and stand in front of him. He asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus said, ‘Is that your own idea, or have other people spoken to you about me?’ 35 Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? It was your own people and the leaders of your priests who brought you to me. What have you done?’
36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my disciples would have fought for me. They would have fought so that the Jewish leaders could not take hold of me. No, my kingdom belongs to another place.’ 37 Pilate said to him, ‘So that means you really are a king!’
Jesus answered, ‘You have said that I am a king! I was born for this reason: I came into the world to tell people the truth about God. Everyone who believes the truth listens to my message.’ 38 Pilate said, ‘I do not know what truth is.’
When Pilate had said that, he went outside again to the Jewish people there. He said to them, ‘I do not see that this man is guilty of anything wrong. I have no reason to punish him. 39 But every year we do something for you Jews. We let one man go free from the prison at the time of your Passover festival. Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?’ 40 They shouted their answer, ‘No, we do not want him! Let Barabbas go free!’ (Barabbas was a man who had attacked people and robbed them.)
Footnotes
- 18:3 The soldiers were Roman soldiers. The officers were Jews who may have worked like police at the temple.
- 18:6 The Jews used ‘I am’ as the name of God. When Jesus said, ‘I am,’ they would have recognized this name. He was saying that he is God.
- 18:14 See John 11:50.
- 18:23 Jesus was not saying anything wrong. He was telling the leader of the priests to ask people who had heard him teach. This was the right thing to do. It was what the Jewish rules said.
- 18:24 Annas was the first leader of the priests and Caiaphas was the present leader.
- 18:28 During the time that Jesus lived on the earth, the Romans ruled over Israel. The Roman ruler (Pilate) lived and worked in a special house. It was called the Praetorium. It had a big yard inside, where people waited to see the ruler.
- 18:28 The Jews had special rules about who could go to their festivals. They had to keep themselves clean and ready to worship God. So they could not go into the houses of people who did not believe in God. If the Jewish leaders had gone into Pilate's house, they would not have been clean for the Passover.
- 18:31 The Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus. But the Romans did not let them kill anyone. Only the Roman ruler could cause his soldiers to do that.
- 18:32 The Romans fixed a person onto a big cross of wood to kill him. Then they let the person hang there until he died. Jesus had said that people would ‘lift him up’. This is what he meant. And when Jesus said something, it had to happen.
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