Matthew 26:36-75

Easy-to-Read Version

Jesus Prays Alone^(A)

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his followers to a place called Gethsemane. He said to them, “Sit here while I go there and pray.” ³⁷ He told Peter and the two sons of Zebedee to come with him. Then he began to be very sad and troubled. ³⁸ Jesus said to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, “My heart is so heavy with grief, I feel as if I am dying. Wait here and stay awake with me.”

³⁹ Then Jesus went on a little farther away from them. He fell to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, don’t make me drink from this cup.^[a] But do what you want, not what I want.” ⁴⁰ Then he went back to his followers and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Could you men not stay awake with me for one hour? ⁴¹ Stay awake and pray for strength against temptation. Your spirit wants to do what is right, but your body is weak.”

⁴² Then Jesus went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if I must do this^[b] and it is not possible for me to escape it, then I pray that what you want will be done.”

⁴³ Then he went back to the followers. Again he found them sleeping. They could not stay awake. ⁴⁴ So he left them and went away one more time and prayed. This third time he prayed, he said the same thing.

⁴⁵ Then Jesus went back to the followers and said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? The time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to the control of sinful men. ⁴⁶ Stand up! We must go. Here comes the one who will hand me over.”

Jesus Is Arrested^(B)

⁴⁷ While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve apostles came there. He had a big crowd of people with him, all carrying swords and clubs. They had been sent from the leading priests and the older leaders of the people. ⁴⁸ Judas^[c] planned to do something to show them which one was Jesus. He said, “The one I kiss will be Jesus. Arrest him.” ⁴⁹ So he went to Jesus and said, “Hello, Teacher!” Then Judas kissed him.

⁵⁰ Jesus answered, “Friend, do the thing you came to do.”

Then the men came and grabbed Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹ When that happened, one of the followers with Jesus grabbed his sword and pulled it out. He swung it at the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

⁵² Jesus said to the man, “Put your sword back in its place. People who use swords will be killed with swords. ⁵³ Surely you know I could ask my Father and he would give me more than twelve armies of angels. ⁵⁴ But it must happen this way to show the truth of what the Scriptures said.”

⁵⁵ Then Jesus said to the crowd, “Why do you come to get me with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal. Every day I sat in the Temple area teaching. You did not arrest me there. ⁵⁶ But all these things have happened to show the full meaning of what the prophets wrote.” Then all of Jesus’ followers left him and ran away.

Jesus Before the Jewish Leaders^(C)

⁵⁷ The men who arrested Jesus led him to the house of Caiaphas the high priest. The teachers of the law and the older Jewish leaders were gathered there. ⁵⁸ Peter followed Jesus but stayed back at a distance. He followed him to the yard of the high priest’s house. Peter went in and sat with the guards. He wanted to see what would happen to Jesus.

⁵⁹ The leading priests and the high council tried to find something against Jesus so that they could kill him. They tried to find people to lie and say that Jesus had done wrong. ⁶⁰ Many people came and told lies about him. But the council could find no real reason to kill him. Then two people came ⁶¹ and said, “This man^[d] said, ‘I can destroy the Temple of God and build it again in three days.’”

⁶² Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Don’t you have anything to say about these charges against you? Are they telling the truth?” ⁶³ But Jesus said nothing.

Again the high priest said to Jesus, “You are now under oath. I command you by the power of the living God to tell us the truth. Tell us, are you the Messiah, the Son of God?”

⁶⁴ Jesus answered, “Yes, that’s right. But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right side of God. And you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵ When the high priest heard this, he tore his clothes in anger. He said, “This man has said things that insult God! We don’t need any more witnesses. You all heard his insulting words. ⁶⁶ What do you think?”

The Jewish leaders answered, “He is guilty, and he must die.”

⁶⁷ Then some there spit in Jesus’ face, and they hit him with their fists. Others slapped him. ⁶⁸ They said, “Show us that you are a prophet,^[e] Messiah! Tell us who hit you!”

Peter Is Afraid to Say He Knows Jesus^(D)

⁶⁹ While Peter was sitting outside in the yard, a servant girl came up to him. She said, “You were with Jesus, that man from Galilee.”

⁷⁰ But Peter told everyone there that this was not true. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ Then he left the yard. At the gate another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷² Again, Peter said he was never with Jesus. He said, “I swear to God I don’t know the man!”

⁷³ A short time later those standing there went to Peter and said, “We know you are one of them. It’s clear from the way you talk.”

⁷⁴ Then Peter began to curse. He said, “I swear to God, I don’t know the man!” As soon as he said this, a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Then he remembered what Jesus had told him: “Before the rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.” Then Peter went outside and cried bitterly.