Chronological
26 When Jesus had finished this talk with his disciples, he told them,
2 “As you know, the Passover celebration begins in two days, and I[a] shall be betrayed and crucified.”
3 At that very moment the chief priests and other Jewish officials were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas the high priest, 4 to discuss ways of capturing Jesus quietly and killing him. 5 “But not during the Passover celebration,” they agreed, “for there would be a riot.”
6 Jesus now proceeded to Bethany, to the home of Simon the leper. 7 While he was eating, a woman came in with a bottle of very expensive perfume and poured it over his head.
8-9 The disciples were indignant. “What a waste of good money,” they said. “Why, she could have sold it for a fortune and given it to the poor.”
10 Jesus knew what they were thinking and said, “Why are you criticizing her? For she has done a good thing to me. 11 You will always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me. 12 She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. 13 And she will always be remembered for this deed. The story of what she has done will be told throughout the whole world, wherever the Good News is preached.”
14 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve apostles, went to the chief priests 15 and asked, “How much will you pay me to get Jesus into your hands?” And they gave him thirty silver coins. 16 From that time on, Judas watched for an opportunity to betray Jesus to them.
17 On the first day of the Passover ceremonies, when bread made with yeast was purged from every Jewish home, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where shall we plan to eat the Passover?”
18 He replied, “Go into the city and see Mr. So-and-So, and tell him, ‘Our Master says, my time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.’” 19 So the disciples did as he told them and prepared the supper there.
20-21 That evening as he sat eating with the Twelve, he said, “One of you will betray me.”
22 Sorrow chilled their hearts, and each one asked, “Am I the one?”
23 He replied, “It is the one I served first.[b] 24 For I must die[c] just as was prophesied, but woe to the man by whom I am betrayed. Far better for that one if he had never been born.”
25 Judas, too, had asked him, “Rabbi, am I the one?” And Jesus had told him, “Yes.”
26 As they were eating, Jesus took a small loaf of bread and blessed it and broke it apart and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take it and eat it, for this is my body.”
27 And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks for it and gave it to them and said, “Each one drink from it, 28 for this is my blood, sealing the new covenant. It is poured out to forgive the sins of multitudes. 29 Mark my words—I will not drink this wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”
30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
31 Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight you will all desert me. For it is written in the Scriptures[d] that God will smite the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. 32 But after I have been brought back to life again, I will go to Galilee and meet you there.”
33 Peter declared, “If everyone else deserts you, I won’t.”
34 Jesus told him, “The truth is that this very night, before the cock crows at dawn, you will deny me three times!”
35 “I would die first!” Peter insisted. And all the other disciples said the same thing.
36 Then Jesus brought them to a garden grove, Gethsemane, and told them to sit down and wait while he went on ahead to pray. 37 He took Peter with him and Zebedee’s two sons James and John, and began to be filled with anguish and despair.
38 Then he told them, “My soul is crushed with horror and sadness to the point of death . . . stay here . . . stay awake with me.”
39 He went forward a little, and fell face downward on the ground, and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But I want your will, not mine.”
40 Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep. “Peter,” he called, “couldn’t you even stay awake with me one hour? 41 Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For the spirit indeed is willing, but how weak the body is!”
42 Again he left them and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot go away until I drink it all, your will be done.”
43 He returned to them again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, 44 so he went back to prayer the third time, saying the same things again.
45 Then he came to the disciples and said, “Sleep on now and take your rest . . . but no! The time has come! I am[e] betrayed into the hands of evil men! 46 Up! Let’s be going! Look! Here comes the man who is betraying me!”
47 At that very moment while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived with a great crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent by the Jewish leaders. 48 Judas had told them to arrest the man he greeted, for that would be the one they were after. 49 So now Judas came straight to Jesus and said, “Hello, Master!” and embraced[f] him in friendly fashion.
50 Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.” Then the others grabbed him.
51 One of the men with Jesus pulled out a sword and slashed off the ear of the high priest’s servant.
52 “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those using swords will get killed. 53 Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? 54 But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what is happening now?” 55 Then Jesus spoke to the crowd. “Am I some dangerous criminal,” he asked, “that you had to arm yourselves with swords and clubs before you could arrest me? I was with you teaching daily in the Temple and you didn’t stop me then. 56 But this is all happening to fulfill the words of the prophets as recorded in the Scriptures.”
At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.
57 Then the mob led him to the home of Caiaphas, the high priest, where all the Jewish leaders were gathering. 58 Meanwhile, Peter was following far to the rear, and came to the courtyard of the high priest’s house and went in and sat with the soldiers, and waited to see what was going to be done to Jesus.
59 The chief priests and, in fact, the entire Jewish Supreme Court assembled there and looked for witnesses who would lie about Jesus, in order to build a case against him that would result in a death sentence. 60-61 But even though they found many who agreed to be false witnesses, these always contradicted each other.
Finally two men were found who declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”
62 Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Well, what about it? Did you say that, or didn’t you?” 63 But Jesus remained silent.
Then the high priest said to him, “I demand in the name of the living God that you tell us whether you claim to be the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “Yes,” Jesus said, “I am. And in the future you will see me, the Messiah,[g] sitting at the right hand of God and returning on the clouds of heaven.”
65-66 Then the high priest tore at his own clothing, shouting, “Blasphemy! What need have we for other witnesses? You have all heard him say it! What is your verdict?”
They shouted, “Death!—Death!—Death!”
67 Then they spat in his face and struck him and some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who struck you that time?”
69 Meanwhile, as Peter was sitting in the courtyard, a girl came over and said to him, “You were with Jesus, for both of you are from Galilee.”[h]
70 But Peter denied it loudly. “I don’t even know what you are talking about,” he angrily declared.
71 Later, out by the gate, another girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus—from Nazareth.”
72 Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.
73 But after a while the men who had been standing there came over to him and said, “We know you are one of his disciples, for we can tell by your Galilean[i] accent.”
74 Peter began to curse and swear. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.
And immediately the cock crowed. 75 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said, “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went away, crying bitterly.
14 The Passover observance began two days later—an annual Jewish holiday when no bread made with yeast was eaten. The chief priests and other Jewish leaders were still looking for an opportunity to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.
2 “But we can’t do it during the Passover,” they said, “or there will be a riot.”
3 Meanwhile Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the leper; during supper a woman came in with a beautiful flask of expensive perfume. Then, breaking the seal, she poured it over his head.
4-5 Some of those at the table were indignant among themselves about this “waste,” as they called it.
“Why, she could have sold that perfume for a fortune and given the money to the poor!” they snarled.
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone; why berate her for doing a good thing? 7 You always have the poor among you, and they badly need your help, and you can aid them whenever you want to; but I won’t be here much longer.
8 “She has done what she could and has anointed my body ahead of time for burial. 9 And I tell you this in solemn truth, that wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and praised.”
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, went to the chief priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them.
11 When the chief priests heard why he had come, they were excited and happy and promised him a reward. So he began looking for the right time and place to betray Jesus.
12 On the first day of the Passover, the day the lambs were sacrificed, his disciples asked him where he wanted to go to eat the traditional Passover supper. 13 He sent two of them into Jerusalem to make the arrangements.
“As you are walking along,” he told them, “you will see a man coming toward you carrying a pot of water. Follow him. 14 At the house he enters, tell the man in charge, ‘Our Master sent us to see the room you have ready for us, where we will eat the Passover supper this evening!’ 15 He will take you upstairs to a large room all set up. Prepare our supper there.”
16 So the two disciples went on ahead into the city and found everything as Jesus had said, and prepared the Passover.
17 In the evening Jesus arrived with the other disciples, 18 and as they were sitting around the table eating, Jesus said, “I solemnly declare that one of you will betray me, one of you who is here eating with me.”
19 A great sadness swept over them, and one by one they asked him, “Am I the one?”
20 He replied, “It is one of you twelve eating with me now. 21 I[a] must die, as the prophets declared long ago; but, oh, the misery ahead for the man by whom I am betrayed. Oh, that he had never been born!”
22 As they were eating, Jesus took bread and asked God’s blessing on it and broke it in pieces and gave it to them and said, “Eat it—this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it and gave it to them; and they all drank from it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the new agreement[b] between God and man. 25 I solemnly declare that I shall never again taste wine until the day I drink a different kind[c] in the Kingdom of God.”
26 Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.
27 “All of you will desert me,” Jesus told them, “for God has declared through the prophets, ‘I will kill the Shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.’ 28 But after I am raised to life again, I will go to Galilee and meet you there.”
29 Peter said to him, “I will never desert you no matter what the others do!”
30 “Peter,” Jesus said, “before the cock crows a second time tomorrow morning you will deny me three times.”
31 “No!” Peter exploded. “Not even if I have to die with you! I’ll never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.
32 And now they came to an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane, and he instructed his disciples, “Sit here, while I go and pray.”
33 He took Peter, James, and John with him and began to be filled with horror and deepest distress. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is crushed by sorrow to the point of death; stay here and watch with me.”
35 He went on a little farther and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the awful hour awaiting him might never come.[d]
36 “Father, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take away this cup from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”
37 Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep.
“Simon!” he said. “Asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? 38 Watch with me and pray lest the Tempter overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak.”
39 And he went away again and prayed, repeating his pleadings. 40 Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they were very tired. And they didn’t know what to say.
41 The third time when he returned to them he said, “Sleep on; get your rest! But no! The time for sleep has ended! Look! I am[e] betrayed into the hands of wicked men. 42 Come! Get up! We must go! Look! My betrayer is here!”
43 And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas (one of his disciples) arrived with a mob equipped with swords and clubs, sent out by the chief priests and other Jewish leaders.
44 Judas had told them, “You will know which one to arrest when I go over and greet[f] him. Then you can take him easily.” 45 So as soon as they arrived he walked up to Jesus. “Master!” he exclaimed, and embraced him with a great show of friendliness. 46 Then the mob arrested Jesus and held him fast. 47 But someone[g] pulled a sword and slashed at the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear.
48 Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous robber, that you come like this, armed to the teeth to capture me? 49 Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill the prophecies about me.”
50 Meanwhile, all his disciples had fled. 51-52 There was, however, a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt.[h] When the mob tried to grab him, he escaped, though his clothes were torn off in the process, so that he ran away completely naked.
53 Jesus was led to the high priest’s home where all of the chief priests and other Jewish leaders soon gathered. 54 Peter followed far behind and then slipped inside the gates of the high priest’s residence and crouched beside a fire among the servants.
55 Inside, the chief priests and the whole Jewish Supreme Court were trying to find something against Jesus that would be sufficient to condemn him to death. But their efforts were in vain. 56 Many false witnesses volunteered, but they contradicted each other.
57 Finally some men stood up to lie about him and said, 58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this Temple made with human hands and in three days I will build another, made without human hands!’” 59 But even then they didn’t get their stories straight!
60 Then the high priest stood up before the Court and asked Jesus, “Do you refuse to answer this charge? What do you have to say for yourself?”
61 To this Jesus made no reply.
Then the high priest asked him. “Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?”
62 Jesus said, “I am, and you will see me[i] sitting at the right hand of God, and returning to earth in the clouds of heaven.”
63-64 Then the high priest tore at his clothes and said, “What more do we need? Why wait for witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your verdict?” And the vote for the death sentence was unanimous.
65 Then some of them began to spit at him, and they blindfolded him and began to hammer his face with their fists.
“Who hit you that time, you prophet?” they jeered. And even the bailiffs were using their fists on him as they led him away.
66-67 Meanwhile Peter was below in the courtyard. One of the maids who worked for the high priest noticed Peter warming himself at the fire.
She looked at him closely and then announced, “You were with Jesus, the Nazarene.”
68 Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he said, and walked over to the edge of the courtyard.
Just then, a rooster crowed.[j]
69 The maid saw him standing there and began telling the others, “There he is! There’s that disciple of Jesus!”
70 Peter denied it again.
A little later others standing around the fire began saying to Peter, “You are, too, one of them, for you are from Galilee!”
71 He began to curse and swear. “I don’t even know this fellow you are talking about,” he said.
72 And immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Suddenly Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he began to cry.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.