Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested

18 After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. ² Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples. ³ The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.

⁴ Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.

⁵ “Jesus the Nazarene,”^[a] they replied.

“I am he,”^[b] Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) ⁶ As Jesus said “I am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! ⁷ Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

⁸ “I told you that I am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” ⁹ He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”^[c]

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. ¹¹ But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”

Jesus at the High Priest’s House

¹² So the soldiers, their commanding officer, and the Temple guards arrested Jesus and tied him up. ¹³ First they took him to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest at that time.^{[d] 14} Caiaphas was the one who had told the other Jewish leaders, “It’s better that one man should die for the people.”

Peter’s First Denial

¹⁵ Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another of the disciples. That other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. ¹⁶ Peter had to stay outside the gate. Then the disciple who knew the high priest spoke to the woman watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. ¹⁷ The woman asked Peter, “You’re not one of that man’s disciples, are you?”

“No,” he said, “I am not.”

¹⁸ Because it was cold, the household servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire. They stood around it, warming themselves, and Peter stood with them, warming himself.

Uzziah Rules in Judah

26 All the people of Judah had crowned Amaziah’s sixteen-year-old son, Uzziah, as king in place of his father. ² After his father’s death, Uzziah rebuilt the town of Elath^[a] and restored it to Judah.

³ Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother was Jecoliah from Jerusalem. ⁴ He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. ⁵ Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who taught him to fear God.^[b] And as long as the king sought guidance from the Lord, God gave him success.

⁶ Uzziah declared war on the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. Then he built new towns in the Ashdod area and in other parts of Philistia. ⁷ God helped him in his wars against the Philistines, his battles with the Arabs of Gur,^[c] and his wars with the Meunites. ⁸ The Meunites^[d] paid annual tribute to him, and his fame spread even to Egypt, for he had become very powerful.

⁹ Uzziah built fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the angle in the wall. ¹⁰ He also constructed forts in the wilderness and dug many water cisterns, because he kept great herds of livestock in the foothills of Judah^[e] and on the plains. He was also a man who loved the soil. He had many workers who cared for his farms and vineyards, both on the hillsides and in the fertile valleys.

¹¹ Uzziah had an army of well-trained warriors, ready to march into battle, unit by unit. This army had been mustered and organized by Jeiel, the secretary of the army, and his assistant, Maaseiah. They were under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s officials. ¹² These regiments of mighty warriors were commanded by 2,600 clan leaders. ¹³ The army consisted of 307,500 men, all elite troops. They were prepared to assist the king against any enemy.

¹⁴ Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and sling stones. ¹⁵ And he built structures on the walls of Jerusalem, designed by experts to protect those who shot arrows and hurled large stones^[f] from the towers and the corners of the wall. His fame spread far and wide, for the Lord gave him marvelous help, and he became very powerful.

Uzziah’s Sin and Punishment

¹⁶ But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar. ¹⁷ Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men. ¹⁸ They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord. That is the work of the priests alone, the descendants of Aaron who are set apart for this work. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have sinned. The Lord God will not honor you for this!”

¹⁹ Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s Temple, leprosy^[g] suddenly broke out on his forehead. ²⁰ When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the Lord had struck him. ²¹ So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in isolation in a separate house, for he was excluded from the Temple of the Lord. His son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace, and he governed the people of the land.

²² The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ²³ When Uzziah died, he was buried with his ancestors; his grave was in a nearby burial field belonging to the kings, for the people said, “He had leprosy.” And his son Jotham became the next king.

Psalm 83

A song. A psalm of Asaph.