Matthew 26:1-35

Easy-to-Read Version

The Jewish Leaders Plan to Kill Jesus^(A)

26 After Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his followers, ²“You know that the day after tomorrow is Passover. On that day the Son of Man will be handed over to his enemies to be killed on a cross.”

³Then the leading priests and the older Jewish leaders had a meeting at the palace where the high priest lived. The high priest’s name was Caiaphas. ⁴In the meeting they tried to find a way to arrest and kill Jesus without anyone knowing what they were doing. They planned to arrest Jesus and kill him. ⁵They said, “We cannot arrest Jesus during Passover. We don’t want the people to become angry and cause a riot.”

A Woman Does Something Special^(B)

⁶Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper. ⁷While he was there, a woman came to him. She had an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. She poured the perfume on Jesus’ head while he was eating.

⁸The followers saw the woman do this and were upset at her. They said, “Why waste that perfume? ⁹It could be sold for a lot of money, and the money could be given to those who are poor.”

¹⁰But Jesus knew what happened. He said, “Why are you bothering this woman? She did a very good thing for me. ¹¹You will always have the poor with you.^[a] But you will not always have me. ¹²This woman poured perfume on my body. She did this to prepare me for burial after I die. ¹³The Good News will be told to people all over the world. And I can assure you that everywhere the Good News is told, the story of what this woman did will also be told, and people will remember her.”

Judas Agrees to Help Jesus’ Enemies^(C)

¹⁴Then one of the twelve followers went to talk to the leading priests. This was the follower named Judas Iscariot. ¹⁵He said, “I will hand Jesus over to you. What will you pay me for doing this?” The priests gave him 30 silver coins. ¹⁶After that Judas waited for the best time to hand Jesus over to them.

The Passover Meal^(D)

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the followers came to Jesus. They said, “We will prepare everything for you to eat the Passover meal. Where do you want us to have the meal?”

¹⁸Jesus answered, “Go into the city. Go to a man I know. Tell him that the Teacher says, ‘The chosen time is near. I will have the Passover meal with my followers at your house.’” ¹⁹They obeyed and did what Jesus told them to do. They prepared the Passover meal.

²⁰In the evening Jesus was at the table with the twelve followers. ²¹They were all eating. Then Jesus said, “Believe me when I say that one of you twelve here will hand me over to my enemies.”

²²The followers were very sad to hear this. Each one said, “Lord, surely I am not the one!”

²³Jesus answered, “One who has dipped his bread in the same bowl with me will be the one to hand me over. ²⁴The Son of Man will suffer what the Scriptures say will happen to him. But it will be very bad for the one who hands over the Son of Man to be killed. It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

²⁵Then Judas, the very one who would hand him over, said to Jesus, “Teacher, surely I am not the one you are talking about, am I?”

Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”

The Lord’s Supper^(E)

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it. He broke off some pieces, gave them to his followers and said, “Take this bread and eat it. It is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup of wine, thanked God for it, and gave it to them. He said, “Each one of you drink some of it. ²⁸This wine is my blood, which will be poured out to forgive the sins of many and begin the new agreement from God to his people. ²⁹I want you to know, I will not drink this wine again until that day when we are together in my Father’s kingdom and the wine is new. Then I will drink it again with you.”

³⁰They all sang a song and then went out to the Mount of Olives.