The Plot to Kill Jesus^(A)

26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things,^[a] he told his disciples, ² “You know that the Passover will take place in two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³ Then the high priests and the elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas. ⁴ They conspired to arrest Jesus by treachery and to kill him. ⁵ But they kept saying, “This must not happen during the festival. Otherwise, there’ll be a riot among the people.”

A Woman Anoints Jesus^(B)

⁶ While Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, ⁷ a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume and poured it on his head while he sat at the table. ⁸ But when the disciples saw this, they became irritated and said, “Why this waste? ⁹ Surely this perfume could’ve been sold for a high price and the money^[b] given to the destitute.”

¹⁰ But knowing this,^[c] Jesus asked them, “Why are you bothering the woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ¹¹ You’ll always have the destitute with you, but you’ll not always have me. ¹² When she poured this perfume on my body, she was preparing me for burial. ¹³ I tell all of you^[d] with certainty, wherever this gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus^(C)

¹⁴ Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the high priests ¹⁵ and inquired, “What are you willing to give me if I betray Jesus^[e] to you?” They offered him 30 pieces of silver, ¹⁶ and from then on he began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.^[f]

The Passover with the Disciples^(D)

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival^[g] of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?”

¹⁸ He said, “Go to a certain man in the city and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near. I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”’”^{[h] 19} So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

²⁰ When evening came, Jesus^[i] was sitting at the table with the Twelve.^{[j] 21} While they were eating, he said, “I tell all of you^[k] with certainty, one of you is going to betray me.”

²² Feeling deeply distressed, each one began to ask him, “Surely I am not the one, Lord?”

²³ He replied, “The man who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him. How terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”

²⁵ Then Judas, who was going to betray him, asked, “Rabbi,^[l] I’m not the one, am I?”

Jesus^[m] told him, “You have said so.”

The Lord’s Supper^(E)

²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and handed it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it. This is my body.”

²⁷ Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, ²⁸ because this is my blood of the new^[n] covenant that is being poured out for many people for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹ I tell all of you^[o] I will never again drink the product of the vine until that day when I drink it with you once again in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰ After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Aaron Makes the Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses took a long time to come down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and told him, “Come here and make us a god^[a] who will go before us, because, as for this fellow Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”

² Aaron told them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”

³ All the people tore off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to him. ⁴ He took them from them^[b] and, using a tool, fashioned them into a molten calf.^[c] The people^[d] said, “This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it, and then he proclaimed, “Tomorrow is to be a festival to the Lord.” ⁶ They got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and drink, and then they got up to play.^[e]

Moses Intercedes for Israel

⁷ The Lord told Moses, “Go down immediately,^[f] because your people whom you led out of Egypt have behaved corruptly. ⁸ They have been quick to turn aside from the way I commanded them, and they have made for themselves a molten calf. They have bowed down to it in worship, they have offered sacrifices to it, and they have said, ‘This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁹ Then the Lord told Moses, “I’ve seen these people and indeed they’re obstinate.^{[g] 10} Now let me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may consume them, but I’ll make a great nation of you.”

¹¹ But Moses implored the Lord his God: “Lord, why are you angry with your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a show of force?^{[h] 12} Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intention to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your anger and change your mind about the calamity against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself as you told them, ‘I’ll increase the number of your descendants like the stars of the heavens, I’ll give your descendants all of this land about which I have spoken, and they are to possess^[i] it forever.’”

¹⁴ So the Lord changed his mind about the calamity he had said he would bring on his people.

Moses Destroys the Golden Calf and the Tablets of the Law

¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two Tablets of the Testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides. They were written on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God and the writing was God’s writing, inscribed on the tablets. ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he told Moses, “The sound of war is coming from^[j] the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses^[k] said,

¹⁹ As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the base of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, and ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelis drink it. ²¹ Then Moses asked Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you brought such great sin upon them?”

²² Aaron said, “Sir,^[l] don’t be angry. You know the people—that they’re intent on evil. ²³ They told me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us because, as for this fellow Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ So I told them, ‘Whoever has gold ornaments, tear them off.’ When they gave it to me, I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

The Descendants of Levi Punish the Guilty Israelis

²⁵ When Moses saw that the people were out of control—since Aaron had let them get out of control, something that incited ridicule from their enemies^[m]— ²⁶ he stood in the gate of the camp and called out: “Whoever is for the Lord come over^[n] to me,” and all the sons of Levi gathered around him. ²⁷ He told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and each of you kill his brother and friend and neighbor.’”

²⁸ The descendants of Levi did just as Moses told them,^[o] and about 3,000 people died that day. ²⁹ Moses said, “You have been ordained^[p] to serve the Lord^[q] today, and you have brought a blessing on yourselves today because every man opposed his son or brother.”^[r]

Moses Again Intercedes for the People

³⁰ The next day Moses told the people, “You committed a great sin, and now I’ll go up to the Lord, and perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

³¹ Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Please, Lord, this people committed a great sin by making a god of gold for themselves. ³² Now, if you will, forgive their sin—but if not, blot me out of your book which you have written.”

³³ The Lord told Moses, “Whoever sins against me, I’ll blot him out of my book. ³⁴ Now, go, and lead the people where I told you, and now my angel will go before you, but on the day when I do punish, I’ll punish them for their sin.” ³⁵ Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf (the one Aaron made).

The Lord Instructs Israel to Leave

33 The Lord told Moses, “Go up^[s] from here, you and the people whom you brought out of Egypt, to the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob saying, ‘I’ll give it to your descendants.’^{[t] 2} I’ll send an angel in front of you and I’ll drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I won’t go up among you, because you are an obstinate^[u] people, and otherwise I might consume you along the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this troubling word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. ⁵ The Lord had told Moses, “Say to the Israelis, ‘You are an obstinate people,^[v] and if for one moment I went up among you, I would put an end to you. Now take off your ornaments so I may decide^[w] what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the Israelis did not wear^[x] their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

God’s Presence at the Tent of Meeting

⁷ Moses used to take the tent and set it up outside the camp at a distance from the camp, and he called it the Tent of Meeting. When anyone sought the Lord, he would go out to the Tent of Meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸ When Moses would go out to the tent, all the people would get up, and each would stand in the doorway of his tent, watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the doorway of the tent while God^[y] spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the doorway of the tent, all of them^[z] would get up and prostrate themselves in worship, each one at the doorway of his tent. ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face just as a man speaks with his friend. When Moses^[aa] returned to the camp, Nun’s son Joshua, his young servant, would not leave the tent.

The Promise of God’s Presence on the Journey

¹² Moses told the Lord, “Look, you have told me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name,’ and also, ‘You have found favor in my sight.’ ¹³ Now, if I’ve found favor in your sight, please show me your ways so I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. And remember,^[ab] this nation is your people.”

¹⁴ He said, “My presence will go with you, and I’ll give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then Moses^[ac] told the Lord,^[ad] “If your presence does not go with us,^[ae] don’t bring us up from here. ¹⁶ Otherwise,^[af] how shall it be known that your people and I have received favor from you, unless you go with us and that we, your people and I, are distinguished from all the people on the surface of the earth?”

Moses Sees God’s Glory

¹⁷ The Lord told Moses, “I’ll do the very^[ag] thing that you have said, because you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses^[ah] said, “Please show me your glory.”

¹⁹ God^[ai] said, “I’ll cause all my goodness to pass before you, and I’ll proclaim the name ‘the Lord’ before you. I’ll be gracious to whom I’ll be gracious, and I’ll show compassion on whom I’ll show compassion. ²⁰ But,” he said, “You cannot see my face, because a man cannot see me and live.”

²¹ The Lord said, “Look, there is a place near^[aj] me where you can stand on the rock; ²² and as my glory passes by, I’ll put you in a crevice in the rock, and cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. ²³ Then I’ll remove my hand so you may see my back, but my face must not be seen.”