Matthew 26
26
The Plot to Kill Jesus
1When Jesus had finished saying all this, # Mk 14:1-2; Lk 22:1-2; Jn 11:47-53 He told His disciples, 2“You know # Or Know (as a command) that the Passover takes place after two days, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” # Jn 11:55; 13:1
3Then the chief priests # Other mss add and the scribes and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, # Ps 2:2; Mt 26:57; Lk 3:2; Jn 11:47; 18:13,15; Ac 4:6 4and they conspired to arrest Jesus in a treacherous way and kill Him. # Mt 21:46; Jn 11:53 5“Not during the festival,” they said, “so there won’t be rioting among the people.”
The Anointing at Bethany
6While Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, # Mk 14:3-9; Jn 12:1-8 a man who had a serious skin disease, 7a woman approached Him with an alabaster jar of very expensive fragrant oil. She poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table. 8When the disciples # Mt 10:1; 26:56; Mk 3:7; 16:20; Lk 6:13; Jn 12:16 saw it, they were indignant. “Why this waste? ” they asked. 9“This might have been sold for a great deal and given to the poor.”
10But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for Me. 11You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me. # Dt 15:11; Jn 12:8 12By pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she has prepared Me for burial. 13I assure you: Wherever this gospel # Mt 24:14; Mk 1:1; 13:10 is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”
14Then # Mk 14:10-11; Lk 22:3-6 one of the Twelve — the man called Judas Iscariot — went to the chief priests # Mt 10:4; Jn 6:71; 12:4; 13:30; Ac 1:16 15and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you? ” So they weighed out 30 pieces of silver for him. # Ex 21:32; Zch 11:12-13; Mt 27:3 16And from that time he started looking for a good opportunity to betray Him.
Betrayal at the Passover
17On the first day of Unleavened Bread # Mk 14:12-16; Lk 22:7-13 the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare the Passover so You may eat it? ”
18“Go into the city to a certain man,” He said, “and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time is near; I am celebrating the Passover at your place # Lit Passover with you with My disciples.’ ” # Jn 7:6,8; 8:20; 13:1; 17:1 19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. 20When evening came, He was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21While they were eating, He said, “I assure you: One of you will betray Me.” # Mk 14:17-21; Lk 22:21-23; Jn 13:21-26
22Deeply distressed, each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I, Lord? ”
23He replied, “The one who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl — he will betray Me. 24The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, # Dn 9:26; Mk 9:12; Lk 24:25-27; Ac 17:2-3; 26:22-23; 1Co 15:3; 1Pt 1:10 but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
25Then Judas, His betrayer, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi? ” # Lk 22:70; Jn 1:38
“You have said it,” He told him.
The First Lord’s Supper
26As they were eating, # Mk 14:22-25; Lk 22:17-20: 1Co 11:23-25 Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, # Mt 10:1; 26:56; Mk 3:7; 16:20; Lk 6:13; Jn 12:16 and said, “Take and eat it; this is My body.” # Mt 14:19; 1Co 10:16 27Then He took a cup, and after giving thanks, He gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. 28For this is My blood that establishes the covenant; # Other mss read new covenant it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. # Ex 24:8; Mt 20:28; Mk 1:4; Heb 9:20 29But I tell you, from this moment I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it in a new way # Or drink new wine ; lit drink it new in My Father’s kingdom # Mt 4:23; Mk 1:15; Ac 20:25 with you.” 30After singing psalms, # Pss 113–118 were sung during and after the Passover meal. they went out to the Mount of Olives. # Mt 21:1; Lk 22:39; Jn 18:1
Peter’s Denial Predicted
31Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will run away # Or stumble because of Me, for it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. # Zch 13:7; Mt 11:6; Jn 16:32 # Zch 13:7
32But after I have been resurrected, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.” # Mt 28:7,10,16; Mk 16:7
33Peter told Him, “Even if everyone runs away because of You, I will never run away! ”
34“I assure you,” Jesus said to him, “tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times! ” # Mt 26:75; Lk 22:34; Jn 13:38
35“Even if I have to die with You,” Peter told Him, “I will never deny You! ” And all the disciples said the same thing.
The Prayer in the Garden
36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, # A garden east of Jerusalem at the base of the Mount of Olives; Gethsemane = olive oil press # Mk 14:32-42; Lk 22:40-46 and He told the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. # Mt 4:21; 17:1 38Then He said to them, “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow # Or I am deeply grieved, or I am overwhelmed by sorrow ; Ps 42:6,11; 43:5 — to the point of death. # Lit unto death Remain here and stay awake with Me.” # Ps 42:5-6; Mt 24:42; Jn 12:27 39Going a little farther, # Other mss read Drawing nearer He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” # Mt 20:22; Jn 5:30; 6:38; Php 2:8; Heb 5:7
40Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He asked Peter, “So, couldn’t you # = all 3 disciples because the verb in Gk is pl stay awake with Me one hour? 41Stay awake and pray, so that you won’t enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this # Other mss add cup cannot pass # Other mss add from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” # Mt 26:39; Mk 14:36; Lk 22:42; Jn 6:38 43And He came again and found them sleeping, because they could not keep their eyes open. # Lit because their eyes were weighed down
44After leaving them, He went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more. 45Then He came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? # Or Sleep on now and take your rest. Look, the time is near. The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. # Jn 12:27; 13:1 46Get up; let’s go! See, My betrayer is near.”
The Judas Kiss
47While He was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, suddenly arrived. # Mk 14:43-50; Lk 22:47-53; Jn 18:3-11 A large mob, with swords and clubs, was with him from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48His betrayer had given them a sign: “The One I kiss, He’s the One; arrest Him! ” 49So he went right up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi! ” and kissed Him.
50“Friend,” # Mt 20:13; 22:12 Jesus asked him, “why have you come? ” # Or Jesus told him, “do what you have come for.” (as a statement)
Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested Him. 51At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his ear. # Lk 22:38; Jn 18:10
52Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up a sword will perish by a sword. # Gn 9:6; Rv 13:10 53Or do you think that I cannot call on My Father, and He will provide Me at once with more than 12 legions # A Roman legion contained up to 6,000 soldiers. of angels? # 2Kg 6:17; Dn 7:10; Mt 4:11; Lk 8:30 54How, then, would the Scriptures be fulfilled # Mt 1:22; 26:24 that say it must happen this way? ”
55At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a criminal, # Lit as against a criminal to capture Me? Every day I used to sit, teaching in the temple complex, and you didn’t arrest Me. # Mk 12:35; Lk 21:37; Jn 7:19; 8:2; 18:20 56But all this has happened so that the prophetic Scriptures # Or the Scriptures of the prophets # Mt 26:54; Rm 1:2; 2Pt 1:20 would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples # Mt 10:1; 26:56; Mk 3:7; 16:20; Lk 6:13; Jn 12:16 deserted Him and ran away.
Jesus Faces the Sanhedrin
57Those # Mk 14:53-65; Jn 18:12-13,19-24 who had arrested Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas # Mt 26:3; Jn 11:49 the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened. 58Meanwhile, Peter was following Him at a distance right to the high priest’s courtyard. # Or high priest’s palace He went in and was sitting with the temple police # Or the officers, or the servants to see the outcome. # Lit end # Jn 7:32; 18:15
59The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so they could put Him to death. # Mt 5:22; Ac 6:11 60But they could not find any, even though many false witnesses # Dt 19:15; Ps 27:12; 35:11; Ac 6:13 came forward. # Other mss add they found none Finally, two # Other mss add false witnesses who came forward 61stated, “This man said, ‘I can demolish God’s sanctuary # Mt 27:40; Jn 2:19; Ac 6:14 and rebuild it in three days.’ ”
62The high priest then stood up and said to Him, “Don’t You have an answer to what these men are testifying against You? ” 63But # Lk 22:67-71 Jesus kept silent. # Is 53:7; Mt 27:12,14; Jn 19:9 Then the high priest said to Him, “By the living God I place You under oath: # Lv 19:12; Nm 30:2; Dt 23:21; Mt 5:33; 14:7; 23:16 tell us if You are the Messiah, the Son of God! ” # Lv 5:1; 1Sm 14:24,26; Mt 16:16
64“You have said it,” # Or That is true, an affirmative oath; Mt 27:11; Mk 15:2 Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future # Lit you, from now you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” # Ps 110:1; Dn 7:13; Mt 16:27; 24:30; Rv 1:7 # Ps 110:1; Dn 7:13
65Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! # Mk 3:29; Jn 10:33 Why do we still need witnesses? Look, now you’ve heard the blasphemy! # Nm 14:6; Mk 14:63; Ac 14:14 66What is your decision? ” # Lit What does it seem to you?
They answered, “He deserves death! ” # Lv 24:16; Jn 19:7 67Then they spit in His face # Mt 27:30; Mk 10:34; Lk 22:63-65; Jn 18:22 and beat Him; others slapped Him 68and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who hit You? ” # Mk 14:65; Lk 22:64
Peter Denies His Lord
69Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. # Mk 14:66-72; Lk 22:55-62; Jn 18:16-18,25-27 A servant approached him and she said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean too.”
70But he denied it in front of everyone: “I don’t know what you’re talking about! ”
71When he had gone out to the gateway, another woman saw him and told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene! ” # Mk 14:67; Ac 6:14
72And again he denied it with an oath, # Lv 19:12; Nm 30:2; Dt 23:21; Mt 5:33; 14:7; 23:16 “I don’t know the man! ”
73After a little while those standing there approached and said to Peter, “You certainly are one of them, since even your accent # Or speech gives you away.”
74Then he started to curse # To call down curses on himself if what he said weren’t true and to swear with an oath, “I do not know the man! ” Immediately a rooster crowed, 75and Peter remembered the words Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” # Mt 26:34; Jn 13:38; Ac 3:13-14 And he went outside and wept bitterly.
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Matthew 26: HCSB
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Matthew 26
26
Anointed for Burial
1-2When Jesus finished saying these things, he told his disciples, “You know that Passover comes in two days. That’s when the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion.”
3-5At that very moment, the party of high priests and religious leaders was meeting in the chambers of the Chief Priest named Caiaphas, conspiring to seize Jesus by stealth and kill him. They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. “We don’t want a riot on our hands,” they said.
6-9When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper, a woman came up to him as he was eating dinner and anointed him with a bottle of very expensive perfume. When the disciples saw what was happening, they were furious. “That’s criminal! This could have been sold for a lot and the money handed out to the poor.”
10-13When Jesus realized what was going on, he intervened. “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has just done something wonderfully significant for me. You will have the poor with you every day for the rest of your lives, but not me. When she poured this perfume on my body, what she really did was anoint me for burial. You can be sure that wherever in the whole world the Message is preached, what she has just done is going to be remembered and admired.”
14-16That is when one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the cabal of high priests and said, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They settled on thirty silver pieces. He began looking for just the right moment to hand him over.
The Traitor
17On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare your Passover meal?”
18-19He said, “Enter the city. Go up to a certain man and say, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near. I and my disciples plan to celebrate the Passover meal at your house.’” The disciples followed Jesus’ instructions to the letter, and prepared the Passover meal.
20-21After sunset, he and the Twelve were sitting around the table. During the meal, he said, “I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators.”
22They were stunned, and then began to ask, one after another, “It isn’t me, is it, Master?”
23-24Jesus answered, “The one who hands me over is someone I eat with daily, one who passes me food at the table. In one sense the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense that man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!”
25Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, “It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi?”
Jesus said, “Don’t play games with me, Judas.”
The Bread and the Cup
26-29During the meal, Jesus took and blessed the bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples:
Take, eat.
This is my body.
Taking the cup and thanking God, he gave it to them:
Drink this, all of you.
This is my blood,
God’s new covenant poured out for many people
for the forgiveness of sins.
“I’ll not be drinking wine from this cup again until that new day when I’ll drink with you in the kingdom of my Father.”
30They sang a hymn and went directly to Mount Olives.
Gethsemane
31-32Then Jesus told them, “Before the night’s over, you’re going to fall to pieces because of what happens to me. There is a Scripture that says,
I’ll strike the shepherd;
dazed and confused, the sheep will be scattered.
But after I am raised up, I, your Shepherd, will go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee.”
33Peter broke in, “Even if everyone else falls to pieces on account of you, I won’t.”
34“Don’t be so sure,” Jesus said. “This very night, before the rooster crows up the dawn, you will deny me three times.”
35Peter protested, “Even if I had to die with you, I would never deny you.” All the others said the same thing.
36-38Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing sorrow. Then he said, “This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”
39Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”
40-41When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”
42He then left them a second time. Again he prayed, “My Father, if there is no other way than this, drinking this cup to the dregs, I’m ready. Do it your way.”
43-44When he came back, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open. This time he let them sleep on, and went back a third time to pray, going over the same ground one last time.
45-46When he came back the next time, he said, “Are you going to sleep on and make a night of it? My time is up, the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s get going! My betrayer is here.”
With Swords and Clubs
47-49The words were barely out of his mouth when Judas (the one from the Twelve) showed up, and with him a gang from the high priests and religious leaders brandishing swords and clubs. The betrayer had worked out a sign with them: “The one I kiss, that’s the one—seize him.” He went straight to Jesus, greeted him, “How are you, Rabbi?” and kissed him.
50-51Jesus said, “Friend, why this charade?”
Then they came on him—grabbed him and roughed him up. One of those with Jesus pulled his sword and, taking a swing at the Chief Priest’s servant, cut off his ear.
52-54Jesus said, “Put your sword back where it belongs. All who use swords are destroyed by swords. Don’t you realize that I am able right now to call to my Father, and twelve companies—more, if I want them—of fighting angels would be here, battle-ready? But if I did that, how would the Scriptures come true that say this is the way it has to be?”
55-56Then Jesus addressed the mob: “What is this—coming out after me with swords and clubs as if I were a dangerous criminal? Day after day I have been sitting in the Temple teaching, and you never so much as lifted a hand against me. You’ve done it this way to confirm and fulfill the prophetic writings.”
Then all the disciples cut and ran.
False Charges
57-58The gang that had seized Jesus led him before Caiaphas the Chief Priest, where the religion scholars and leaders had assembled. Peter followed at a safe distance until they got to the Chief Priest’s courtyard. Then he slipped in and mingled with the servants, watching to see how things would turn out.
59-60a The high priests, conspiring with the Jewish Council, tried to cook up charges against Jesus in order to sentence him to death. But even though many stepped up, making up one false accusation after another, nothing was believable.
60b-61 Finally two men came forward with this: “He said, ‘I can tear down this Temple of God and after three days rebuild it.’”
62The Chief Priest stood up and said, “What do you have to say to the accusation?”
63Jesus kept silent.
Then the Chief Priest said, “I command you by the authority of the living God to say if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64Jesus was curt: “You yourself said it. And that’s not all. Soon you’ll see it for yourself:
The Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Mighty One,
Arriving on the clouds of heaven.”
65-66At that, the Chief Priest lost his temper, ripping his robes, yelling, “He blasphemed! Why do we need witnesses to accuse him? You all heard him blaspheme! Are you going to stand for such blasphemy?”
They all said, “Death! That seals his death sentence.”
67-68Then they were spitting in his face and knocking him around. They jeered as they slapped him: “Prophesy, Messiah: Who hit you that time?”
Denial in the Courtyard
69All this time, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard. One servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean.”
70In front of everybody there, he denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
71As he moved over toward the gate, someone else said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.”
72Again he denied it, salting his denial with an oath: “I swear, I never laid eyes on the man.”
73Shortly after that, some bystanders approached Peter. “You’ve got to be one of them. Your accent gives you away.”
74-75Then he got really nervous and swore. “I don’t know the man!”
Just then a rooster crowed. Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went out and cried and cried and cried.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.