Matthew 20:17-28

Christian Standard Bible

The Third Prediction of His Death

¹⁷ While going up to Jerusalem,^(A) Jesus took the twelve disciples aside privately and said to them on the way, ¹⁸ “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death.^{(B) 19} They will hand him over to the Gentiles^(C) to be mocked, flogged,^[a] and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised.”^[b]

Suffering and Service

²⁰ Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons approached him with her sons.^(D) She knelt down to ask him for something.^{(E) 21} “What do you want?” he asked her.

“Promise,”^[c] she said to him, “that these two sons of mine may sit, one on your right and the other on your left, in your kingdom.”^(F)

²² Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?”^[d](G)

“We are able,” they said to him.

²³ He told them, “You will indeed drink my cup,^[e] but to sit at my right and left is not mine to give; instead, it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”^(H)

²⁴ When the ten disciples heard this, they became indignant with the two brothers. ²⁵ Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in high positions act as tyrants over them. ²⁶ It must not be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,^{(I) 27} and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave; ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve,^(J) and to give his life as a ransom for many.”^(K)