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 Yeshua.

Preparations for the Passover^(B)

¹⁷ On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples went to Yeshua. They asked, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?”

¹⁸ He said, “Go to a certain man in the city, and tell him that the teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’”

¹⁹ The disciples did as Yeshua had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰ When evening came, Yeshua was at the table with the twelve apostles.

Jesus Knows Who Will Betray Him^(C)

²¹ While they were eating, he said, “I can guarantee this truth: One of you is going to betray me.”

²² Feeling deeply hurt, they asked him one by one, “You don’t mean me, do you, Lord?”

²³ Yeshua answered, “Someone who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man is going to die as the Scriptures say he will. But how horrible it will be for that person who betrays the Son of Man. It would have been better for that person if he had never been born.”

²⁵ Then Judas, who betrayed him, asked, “You don’t mean me, do you, Rabbi?”

“Yes, I do,” Yeshua replied.

The Lord’s Supper^(D)

²⁶ While they were eating, Yeshua took bread and blessed it. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take this, and eat it. This is my body.”

²⁷ Then he took a cup and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is my blood, the blood of the promise.^[a] It is poured out for many people so that sins are forgiven.

²⁹ “I can guarantee that I won’t drink this wine again until that day when I drink new wine with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

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

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial^(E)

³¹ Then Yeshua said to them, “All of you will abandon me tonight. Scripture says,

³² “But after I am brought back to life, I will go to Galilee ahead of you.”

³³ Peter said to him, “Even if everyone else abandons you, I never will.”

³⁴ Yeshua replied to Peter, “I can guarantee this truth: Before a rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you don’t know me.”

³⁵ Peter told him, “Even if I have to die with you, I’ll never say that I don’t know you!” All the other disciples said the same thing.

Jesus Prays in the Garden of Gethsemane^(F)

³⁶ Then Yeshua went with the disciples to a place called Gethsemane. He said to them, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.”

³⁷ He took Peter and Zebedee’s two sons with him. He was beginning to feel deep anguish. ³⁸ Then he said to them, “My anguish is so great that I feel as if I’m dying. Wait here, and stay awake with me.”

³⁹ After walking a little farther, he quickly bowed with his face to the ground and prayed, “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. But let your will be done rather than mine.”

⁴⁰ When he went back to the disciples, he found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour? ⁴¹ Stay awake, and pray that you won’t be tempted. You want to do what’s right, but you’re weak.”

⁴² Then he went away a second time and prayed, “Father, if this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, let your will be done.”

⁴³ He found them asleep again because they couldn’t keep their eyes open.

⁴⁴ After leaving them again, he went away and prayed the same prayer a third time. ⁴⁵ Then he came back to the disciples and said to them, “You might as well sleep now. The time is near for the Son of Man to be handed over to sinners.

³⁴ They gave him a drink of wine mixed with a drug called gall. When he tasted it, he refused to drink it.

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival, Yeshua was standing in the temple courtyard. He said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty must come to me to drink. ³⁸ As Scripture says, ‘Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.’” ³⁹ Yeshua said this about the Spirit, whom his believers would receive. The Spirit was not yet evident, as it would be after Yeshua had been glorified.

⁴⁰ After some of the crowd heard Yeshua say these words, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet.” ⁴¹ Other people said, “This man is the Messiah.” Still other people asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the descendants of David and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?” ⁴³ So the people were divided because of Yeshua. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but they couldn’t.

⁴⁵ When the temple guards returned, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Yeshua?”

⁴⁶ The temple guards answered, “No human has ever spoken like this man.”

⁴⁷ The Pharisees asked the temple guards, “Have you been deceived too? ⁴⁸ Has any ruler or any Pharisee believed in him? ⁴⁹ This crowd is cursed because it doesn’t know Moses’ Teachings.”

⁵⁰ One of those Pharisees was Nicodemus, who had previously visited Yeshua. Nicodemus asked them, ⁵¹ “Do Moses’ Teachings enable us to judge a person without first hearing that person’s side of the story? We can’t judge a person without finding out what that person has done.”

⁵² They asked Nicodemus, “Are you saying this because you’re from Galilee? Study the Scriptures, and you’ll see that no prophet comes from Galilee.”^[a]

⁵³ Then each of them went home.

A Woman Caught in Adultery

8 Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early the next morning he returned to the temple courtyard. All the people went to him, so he sat down and began to teach them.

³ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone ⁴ and asked Yeshua, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the act of adultery. ⁵ In his teachings, Moses ordered us to stone women like this to death. What do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to test him. They wanted to find a reason to bring charges against him.

Yeshua bent down and used his finger to write on the ground. ⁷ When they persisted in asking him questions, he straightened up and said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he bent down again and continued writing on the ground.

⁹ One by one, beginning with the older men, the experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees left. Yeshua was left alone with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Yeshua straightened up and asked her, “Where did they go? Has anyone condemned you?”

¹¹ The woman answered, “No one, sir.”

Yeshua said, “I don’t condemn you either. Go! From now on don’t sin.”

¹⁷ When we arrived in Jerusalem, the believers welcomed us warmly.

¹⁸ The next day Paul went with us to visit James. All the spiritual leaders^[a] were present. ¹⁹ After greeting them, Paul related everything God had done through his work with non-Jewish people.

²⁰ When the spiritual leaders heard about everything, they praised God. They said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews are now believers, and all of them are deeply committed to Moses’ Teachings. ²¹ But they have been told that you teach all the Jews living among non-Jewish people to abandon Moses. They claim that you tell them not to circumcise their children or follow Jewish customs. ²² What should we do about this? They will certainly hear that you’re in town. ²³ So follow our advice. We have four men who have made a vow to God. ²⁴ Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay the expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that what they’ve been told about you isn’t true. Instead, they’ll see that you carefully follow Moses’ Teachings.

²⁵ To clarify this matter we have written non-Jewish believers a letter with our decision. We told them that they should not eat food sacrificed to false gods, bloody meat, or the meat of strangled animals. They also should not commit sexual sins.”

²⁶ The next day, Paul took the men and went through the purification ceremony with them. Then he went into the temple courtyard to announce the time when the purification would be over and the sacrifice would be offered for each of them.

²⁷ When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul in the temple courtyard. They stirred up the whole crowd and grabbed Paul. ²⁸ Then they began shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against the Jewish people, Moses’ Teachings, and this temple. He has even brought Greeks into the temple courtyard and has made this holy place unclean.”^{[b] 29} They had seen Trophimus from Ephesus with him in the city earlier and thought Paul had taken him into the temple courtyard.

³⁰ The whole city was in chaos, and a mob formed. The mob grabbed Paul and dragged him out of the temple courtyard. The courtyard doors were immediately shut.

³¹ As the people were trying to kill Paul, the officer in charge of the Roman soldiers received a report that all Jerusalem was rioting. ³² Immediately, he took some soldiers and officers and charged the crowd. When the crowd saw the officer and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.