³¹ In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.^(A)

¹⁷ For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered^[a] for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you^[b] to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,^(A)

²³ Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.^{(A) 24} Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.^{(A) 48} If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place^[a] and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!^{(B) 50} You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”^{(C) 51} He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God.

³⁵ And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah^[a] of God, his chosen one!”^{(A) 36} The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine^{(B) 37} and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”

⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, ⁴² “He saved others; he cannot save himself.^[a] He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.^{(A) 43} He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he wants to, for he said, ‘I am God’s Son.’ ”^(B)

Psalm 2

God’s Promise to His Anointed