The Plot to Kill Jesus^(A)

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

³ Then the chief priests and the leaders of the people gathered in the palace of the chief priest Caiaphas. ⁴ They made plans to arrest Jesus in an underhanded way and to kill him. ⁵ But they said, “We shouldn’t arrest him during the festival, or else there may be a riot among the people.”

Judas Plans to Betray Jesus^(A)

¹⁴ Then one of the twelve apostles, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests. ¹⁵ He asked, “What will you pay me if I hand him over to you?”

They offered him 30 silver coins. ¹⁶ From then on, he looked for a chance to betray Jesus.

The Plot to Kill Jesus^(A)

14 It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings were looking for some underhanded way to arrest Jesus and to kill him. ² However, they said, “We shouldn’t arrest him during the festival, or else there will be a riot among the people.”

Judas Plans to Betray Jesus^(A)

¹⁰ Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus. ¹¹ They were pleased to hear what Judas had to say and promised to give him money. So he kept looking for a chance to betray Jesus.

The Jewish Council Plans to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Many Jews who had visited Mary and had seen what Jesus had done believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council. They asked, “What are we doing? This man is performing a lot of miracles. ⁴⁸ If we let him continue what he’s doing, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will take away our position and our nation.”

⁴⁹ One of them, Caiaphas, who was chief priest that year, told them, “You people don’t know anything. ⁵⁰ You haven’t even considered this: It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”

⁵¹ Caiaphas didn’t say this on his own. As chief priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation. ⁵² He prophesied that Jesus wouldn’t die merely for this nation, but that Jesus would die to bring God’s scattered children together and make them one.

⁵³ From that day on, the Jewish council planned to kill Jesus. ⁵⁴ So Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. Instead, he left Bethany and went to the countryside near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵ The Jewish Passover was near. Many people came from the countryside to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. ⁵⁶ As they stood in the temple courtyard, they looked for Jesus and asked each other, “Do you think that he’ll avoid coming to the festival?” ⁵⁷ (The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where Jesus was should tell them so that they could arrest him.)