Read the Gospels in 40 Days

17 After Yeshua had said these things, he looked up toward heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you — ² just as you gave him authority over all mankind, so that he might give eternal life to all those whom you have given him. ³ And eternal life is this: to know you, the one true God, and him whom you sent, Yeshua the Messiah.

⁴ “I glorified you on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify me alongside yourself. Give me the same glory I had with you before the world existed.

⁶ “I made your name known to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, ⁸ because the words you gave me I have given to them, and they have received them. They have really come to know that I came from you, and they have come to trust that you sent me.

⁹ “I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given to me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ Indeed, all I have is yours, and all you have is mine, and in them I have been glorified. ¹¹ Now I am no longer in the world. They are in the world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, guard them by the power of your name, which you have given to me, so that they may be one, just as we are. ¹² When I was with them, I guarded them by the power of your name, which you have given to me; yes, I kept watch over them; and not one of them was destroyed (except the one meant for destruction, so that the Tanakh might be fulfilled). ¹³ But now, I am coming to you; and I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.

¹⁴ “I have given them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world — just as I myself do not belong to the world. ¹⁵ I don’t ask you to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One. ¹⁶ They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁷ Set them apart for holiness by means of the truth — your word is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ On their behalf I am setting myself apart for holiness, so that they too may be set apart for holiness by means of the truth.

²⁰ “I pray not only for these, but also for those who will trust in me because of their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are united with me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with us, so that the world may believe that you sent me. ²² The glory which you have given to me, I have given to them; so that they may be one, just as we are one — ²³ I united with them and you with me, so that they may be completely one, and the world thus realize that you sent me, and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am; so that they may see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ²⁵ Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these people have known that you sent me. ²⁶ I made your name known to them, and I will continue to make it known; so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I myself may be united with them.”

18 After Yeshua had said all this, he went out with his talmidim across the stream that flows in winter through the Vadi Kidron, to a spot where there was a grove of trees; and he and his talmidim went into it. ² Now Y’hudah, who was betraying him, also knew the place; because Yeshua had often met there with his talmidim. ³ So Y’hudah went there, taking with him a detachment of Roman soldiers and some Temple guards provided by the head cohanim and the P’rushim; they carried weapons, lanterns and torches. ⁴ Yeshua, who knew everything that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Whom do you want?” ⁵ “Yeshua from Natzeret,” they answered. He said to them, “I AM.” Also standing with them was Y’hudah, the one who was betraying him. ⁶ When he said, “I AM,” they went backward from him and fell to the ground. ⁷ So he inquired of them once more, “Whom do you want?” and they said, “Yeshua from Natzeret.” ⁸ “I told you, ‘I AM,’” answered Yeshua, “so if I’m the one you want, let these others go.” ⁹ This happened so that what he had said might be fulfilled, “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

¹⁰ Then Shim‘on Kefa, who had a sword, drew it and struck the slave of the cohen hagadol, cutting off his right ear; the slave’s name was Melekh. ¹¹ Yeshua said to Kefa, “Put your sword back in its scabbard! This is the cup the Father has given me; am I not to drink it?”

¹² So the detachment of Roman soldiers and their captain, together with the Temple Guard of the Judeans, arrested Yeshua, tied him up, ¹³ and took him first to ‘Anan, the father-in-law of Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that fateful year. ¹⁴ (It was Kayafa who had advised the Judeans that it would be good for one man to die on behalf of the people.) ¹⁵ Shim‘on Kefa and another talmid followed Yeshua. The second talmid was known to the cohen hagadol, and he went with Yeshua into the courtyard of the cohen hagadol; ¹⁶ but Kefa stood outside by the gate. So the other talmid, the one known to the cohen hagadol, went back out and spoke to the woman on duty at the gate, then brought Kefa inside. ¹⁷ The woman at the gate said to Kefa, “Aren’t you another of that man’s talmidim?” He said, “No, I’m not.” ¹⁸ Now the slaves and guards had lit a fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it warming themselves; Kefa joined them and stood warming himself too.

¹⁹ The cohen hagadol questioned Yeshua about his talmidim and about what he taught. ²⁰ Yeshua answered, “I have spoken quite openly to everyone; I have always taught in a synagogue or in the Temple where all Jews meet together, and I have said nothing in secret; ²¹ so why are you questioning me? Question the ones who heard what I said to them; look, they know what I said.” ²² At these words, one of the guards standing by slapped Yeshua in the face and said, “This is how you talk to the cohen hagadol?” ²³ Yeshua answered him, “If I said something wrong, state publicly what was wrong; but if I was right, why are you hitting me?” ²⁴ So ‘Anan sent him, still tied up, to Kayafa the cohen hagadol.

²⁵ Meanwhile, Shim‘on Kefa was standing and warming himself. They said to him, “Aren’t you also one of his talmidim?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the cohen hagadol, a relative of the man whose ear Kefa had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the grove of trees?” ²⁷ So again Kefa denied it, and instantly a rooster crowed.

²⁸ They led Yeshua from Kayafa to the governor’s headquarters. By now it was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters building because they didn’t want to become ritually defiled and thus unable to eat the Pesach meal. ²⁹ So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What charge are you bringing against this man?” ³⁰ They answered, “If he hadn’t done something wrong, we wouldn’t have brought him to you.” ³¹ Pilate said to them, “You take him and judge him according to your own law.” The Judeans replied, “We don’t have the legal power to put anyone to death.” ³² This was so that what Yeshua had said, about how he was going to die, might be fulfilled.

³³ So Pilate went back into the headquarters, called Yeshua and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” ³⁴ Yeshua answered, “Are you asking this on your own, or have other people told you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate replied, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and head cohanim have handed you over to me; what have you done?” ³⁶ Yeshua answered, “My kingship does not derive its authority from this world’s order of things. If it did, my men would have fought to keep me from being arrested by the Judeans. But my kingship does not come from here.” ³⁷ “So then,” Pilate said to him, “You are a king, after all.” Yeshua answered, “You say I am a king. The reason I have been born, the reason I have come into the world, is to bear witness to the truth. Every one who belongs to the truth listens to me.” ³⁸ Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”

Having said this, Pilate went outside again to the Judeans and told them, “I don’t find any case against him. ³⁹ However, you have a custom that at Passover I set one prisoner free. Do you want me to set free for you the ‘king of the Jews’?” ⁴⁰ But they yelled back, “No, not this man but Bar-Abba!” (Bar-Abba was a revolutionary.)