4 Then Jesus was led (guided) by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness (desert) to be tempted (tested and tried) by the devil.

² And He went without food for forty days and forty nights, and later He was hungry.^(A)

³ And the tempter came and said to Him, If You are God’s Son, command these stones to be made [^[a]loaves of] bread.

⁴ But He replied, It has been written, Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.^(B)

⁵ Then the devil took Him into the holy city and placed Him on ^[b]a turret (pinnacle, ^[c]gable) of the temple ^[d]sanctuary.^(C)

⁶ And he said to Him, If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, He will give His angels charge over you, and they will bear you up on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone.^(D)

⁷ Jesus said to him, ^[e]On the other hand, it is written also, You shall not tempt, ^[f]test thoroughly, or ^[g]try exceedingly the Lord your God.^(E)

⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory (the splendor, magnificence, preeminence, and excellence) of them.

⁹ And he said to Him, These things, all taken together, I will give You, if You will prostrate Yourself before me and do homage and worship me.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, Begone, Satan! For it has been written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him alone shall you serve.^(F)

¹¹ Then the devil departed from Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Read full chapter

³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He told His disciples, Sit down here while I go over yonder and pray.

³⁷ And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to ^[a]show grief and distress of mind and was ^[b]deeply depressed.

³⁸ Then He said to them, My soul is very sad and deeply grieved, so that ^[c]I am almost dying of sorrow. Stay here and keep awake and keep watch with Me.

³⁹ And going a little farther, He threw Himself upon the ground on His face and prayed saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will [not what I desire], but as You will and desire.

⁴⁰ And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, What! Are you so utterly unable to stay awake and keep watch with Me for one hour?

⁴¹ All of you must keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

⁴² Again a second time He went away and prayed, My Father, if this cannot pass by unless I drink it, Your will be done.

⁴³ And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were weighed down with sleep.

⁴⁴ So, leaving them again, He went away and prayed for the third time, using the same words.

⁴⁵ Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of ^[d]especially wicked sinners [^[e]whose way or nature it is to act in opposition to God].

⁴⁶ Get up, let us be going! See, My betrayer is at hand!

⁴⁷ As He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve [apostles], came up, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸ Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, The One I shall kiss is the Man; seize Him.

⁴⁹ And he came up to Jesus at once and said, Hail (greetings, good health to You, long life to You), Master! And he ^[f]embraced Him and kissed Him ^[g]with [pretended] warmth and devotion.

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, Friend, for what are you here? Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him.

⁵¹ And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword and, striking the body servant of the high priest, cut off his ear.

⁵² Then Jesus said to him, Put your sword back into its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.^(A)

⁵³ Do you suppose that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will immediately provide Me with more than twelve legions [^[h]more than 80,000] of angels?

⁵⁴ But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must come about this way?

⁵⁵ At that moment Jesus said to the crowds, Have you come out with swords and clubs as [you would] against a robber to capture Me? Day after day I was ^[i]accustomed to sit in the ^[j]porches and courts of the temple teaching, and you did not arrest Me.

⁵⁶ But all this has taken place in order that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples deserted Him and, fleeing, escaped.

⁵⁷ But those who had seized Jesus took Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had assembled.

⁵⁸ But Peter followed Him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest’s home; he even went inside and sat with the guards to see the end.

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests and the whole council (the Sanhedrin) sought to get false witnesses to testify against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death;

⁶⁰ But they found none, though many witnesses came forward [to testify]. At last two men came forward

⁶¹ And testified, This ^[k]Fellow said, I am able to tear down the ^[l]sanctuary of the temple of God and to build it up again in three days.

⁶² And the high priest stood up and said, Have You no answer to make? What about this that these men testify against You?

⁶³ But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, ^[m]I call upon you to swear by the living God, and tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.

⁶⁴ Jesus said to him, ^[n]You have stated [the fact]. More than that, I tell you: You will in the future see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of ^[o]the Almighty and coming on the clouds of the sky.^(B)

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes and exclaimed, He has uttered blasphemy! What need have we of further evidence? You have now heard His blasphemy.^(C)

⁶⁶ What do you think now? They answered, He deserves to be put to death.

⁶⁷ Then they spat in His face and struck Him with their fists; and some ^[p]slapped Him in the face,^(D)

⁶⁸ Saying, Prophesy to us, You Christ (the Messiah)! Who was it that struck You?

⁶⁹ Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and ^[q]one maid came up to him and said, You were also with Jesus the Galilean!

⁷⁰ But he denied it ^[r]falsely before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean.

⁷¹ And when he had gone out to the porch, another maid saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This fellow was with Jesus the Nazarene!

⁷² And again he denied it and ^[s]disowned Him with an oath, saying, I do not know the Man!

⁷³ After a little while, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, You certainly are one of them too, for even your accent betrays you.

⁷⁴ Then Peter began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not even know the Man! And at that moment a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵ And Peter remembered Jesus’ words, when He had said, Before a ^[t]single rooster crows, you will deny and disown Me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly.

27 When it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people held a consultation against Jesus to put Him to death;

² And they bound Him and led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate the governor.

³ When Judas, His betrayer, saw that [Jesus] was condemned, [Judas was ^[u]afflicted in mind and troubled for his former folly; and] with remorse [with little more than a selfish dread of the consequences] he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,^(E)

⁴ Saying, I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. They replied, What is that to us? See to that yourself.

⁵ And casting the pieces of silver [forward] into the [Holy Place of the ^[v]sanctuary of the] temple, he departed; and he went off and hanged himself.

⁶ But the chief priests, picking up the pieces of silver, said, It is not legal to put these in the [consecrated] treasury, for it is the price of blood.

⁷ So after consultation they bought with them [the pieces of silver] the potter’s field [as a place] in which to bury strangers.

⁸ Therefore that piece of ground has been called the Field of Blood to the present day.

⁹ Then were fulfilled the words spoken by Jeremiah the prophet when he said, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him on Whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel,^(F)

¹⁰ And they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.

¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor [Pilate], and the governor asked Him, Are you the King of the Jews? Jesus said to him, You have stated [the fact].

¹² But when the charges were made against Him by the chief priests and elders, He made no answer.^(G)

¹³ Then Pilate said to Him, Do You not hear how many and how serious are the things they are testifying against You?

¹⁴ But He made no reply to him, not even to a single accusation, so that the governor marveled greatly.

¹⁵ Now at the Feast [of the Passover] the governor was in the habit of setting free for the people any one prisoner whom they chose.

¹⁶ And at that time they had a notorious prisoner whose name was Barabbas.

¹⁷ So when they had assembled for this purpose, Pilate said to them, Whom do you want me to set free for you, Barabbas, or Jesus Who is called Christ?

¹⁸ For he knew that it was because of envy that they had handed Him over to him.

¹⁹ Also, while he was seated on the judgment bench, his wife sent him a message, saying, Have nothing to do with that just and upright Man, for I have had a painful experience today in a dream because of Him.

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders prevailed on the people to ask for Barabbas, and put Jesus to death.

²¹ Again the governor said to them, Which of the two do you wish me to release for you? And they said, Barabbas!

²² Pilate said to them, Then what shall I do with Jesus Who is called Christ?

²³ They all replied, Let Him be crucified! And he said, Why? What has He done that is evil? But they shouted all the louder, Let Him be crucified!

²⁴ So when Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but rather that a riot was about to break out, he took water and washed his hands in the presence of the crowd, saying, I am not guilty of nor responsible for this ^[w]righteous Man’s blood; see to it yourselves.^(H)

²⁵ And all the people answered, Let His blood be on us and on our children!^(I)

²⁶ So he set free for them Barabbas; and he [had] Jesus whipped, and delivered Him up to be crucified.

²⁷ Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the palace, and they gathered the whole battalion about Him.

²⁸ And they stripped off His clothes and put a scarlet robe (^[x]garment of dignity and office worn by Roman officers of rank) upon Him,

²⁹ And, weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on His head and put a reed (staff) in His right hand. And kneeling before Him, they made sport of Him, saying, Hail (greetings, good health to You, long life to You), King of the Jews!

³⁰ And they spat on Him, and took the reed (staff) and struck Him on the head.

³¹ And when they finished making sport of Him, they stripped Him of the robe and put His own garments on Him and led Him away to be crucified.

³² As they were marching forth, they came upon a man of Cyrene named Simon; this man they forced to carry the cross of Jesus.

³³ And when they came to a place called Golgotha [Latin: Calvary], which means The Place of a Skull,

³⁴ They offered Him wine mingled with gall to drink; but when He tasted it, He refused to drink it.

³⁵ And when they had crucified Him, they divided and distributed His garments [among them] by casting lots ^[y]so that the prophet’s saying was fulfilled, They parted My garments among them and over My apparel they cast lots.^(J)

³⁶ Then they sat down there and kept watch over Him.

³⁷ And over His head they put the accusation against Him (^[z]the cause of His death), which read, This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

³⁸ At the same time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right hand and one on the left.

³⁹ And those who passed by spoke reproachfully and abusively and jeered at Him, wagging their heads,^(K)

⁴⁰ And they said, You Who would tear down the ^[aa]sanctuary of the temple and rebuild it in three days, rescue Yourself ^[ab]from death. If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.

⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, made sport of Him, saying,

⁴² He rescued others ^[ac]from death; Himself He cannot rescue ^[ad]from death. He is the King of Israel? Let Him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in and ^[ae]acknowledge and cleave to Him.

⁴³ He trusts in God; let God deliver Him now if He cares for Him and will have Him, for He said, I am the Son of God.

⁴⁴ And the robbers who were crucified with Him also abused and reproached and made sport of Him in the same way.

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour (noon) there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour (three o’clock).

⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour (three o’clock) Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?—that is, My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me [leaving Me ^[af]helpless, forsaking and failing Me in My need]?^(L)

⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, when they heard it, said, This Man is calling for Elijah!

⁴⁸ And one of them immediately ran and took a sponge, soaked it with vinegar (a sour wine), and put it on a reed (staff), and was ^[ag]about to give it to Him to drink.^(M)

⁴⁹ But the others said, Wait! Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him ^[ah]from death.

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried again with a loud voice and gave up His spirit.

⁵¹ And at once the curtain of the ^[ai]sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth shook and the rocks were split.^(N)

⁵² The tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep ^[aj]in death were raised [to life];

⁵³ And coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

⁵⁴ When the centurion and those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus observed the earthquake and all that was happening, they were terribly frightened and filled with awe, and said, Truly this was God’s Son!

⁵⁵ There were also numerous women there, looking on from a distance, who were of those who had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him.

⁵⁶ Among them were Mary of Magdala, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

⁵⁷ When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.

⁵⁸ He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.

⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and ^[ak]rolled it up in a clean linen cloth ^[al]used for swathing dead bodies

⁶⁰ And laid it in his own fresh (^[am]undefiled) tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a big boulder over the door of the tomb and went away.

⁶¹ And Mary of Magdala and the other Mary kept sitting there opposite the tomb.

⁶² The next day, that is, the day after the day of Preparation [for the Sabbath], the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled before Pilate

⁶³ And said, Sir, we have just remembered how that ^[an]vagabond Imposter said while He was still alive, After three days I will rise again.

⁶⁴ Therefore give an order to have the tomb made secure and safeguarded until the third day, for fear that His disciples will come and steal Him away and tell the people that He has risen from the dead, and the last deception and fraud will be worse than the first.

⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, You have a guard [of soldiers; take them and] go, make it as secure as you can.

⁶⁶ So they went off and made the tomb secure by sealing the boulder, a guard of soldiers being with them and remaining to watch.

28 Now after the Sabbath, near dawn of the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala and the other Mary went to take a look at the tomb.

² And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled the boulder back and sat upon it.

³ His appearance was like lightning, and his garments as white as snow.

⁴ And those keeping guard were so frightened at the sight of him that they were agitated and they trembled and became like dead men.

⁵ But the angel said to the women, Do not be alarmed and frightened, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, Who was crucified.

⁶ He is not here; He has risen, as He said [He would do]. Come, see the place where He lay.

⁷ Then go quickly and tell His disciples, He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.

⁸ So they left the tomb hastily with fear and great joy and ran to tell the disciples.

⁹ And as they went, behold, Jesus met them and said, Hail (greetings)! And they went up to Him and clasped His feet and worshiped Him.

¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, Do not be alarmed and afraid; go and tell My brethren to go into Galilee, and there they will see Me.

¹¹ While they were on their way, behold, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had occurred.

¹² And when they [the chief priests] had gathered with the elders and had consulted together, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers,

¹³ And said, Tell people, His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we were sleeping.

¹⁴ And if the governor hears of it, we will appease him and make you safe and free from trouble and care.

¹⁵ So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this story has been current among the Jews to the present day.

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed and made appointment with them.

¹⁷ And when they saw Him, they fell down and worshiped Him; but some doubted.

¹⁸ Jesus approached and, ^[ao]breaking the silence, said to them, All authority (all power of rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

¹⁹ Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them ^[ap]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

²⁰ Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you ^[aq]all the days (^[ar]perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. ^[as]Amen (so let it be).