^aNow ^bthe Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes ^cwere seeking how to arrest Him covertly and kill Him; 2 for they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise there will be a riot of the people.”

3 ^aWhile He was in ^bBethany at the home of Simon ¹the Leper, He was reclining at the table, and a woman came with an alabaster vial of very ^cexpensive perfume of pure ²nard. She broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head. 4 But there were some indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume could have been sold for over three hundred ¹denarii, and the money given to the poor.” And they were scolding her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a good deed for Me. 7 For you always have ^athe poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. 8 She has done what she could; ^ashe has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. 9 Truly I say to you, ^awherever the gospel is preached in the entire world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

10 ^aThen Judas Iscariot, ^bwho was one of the twelve, went off to the chief priests in order to ¹betray Him to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard this, and promised to give him money. And he began seeking how to betray Him at an opportune time.

12 ^aOn the first day of ^1bUnleavened Bread, when ²the Passover lamb was being ^csacrificed, His disciples *said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” 13 And He *sent two of His disciples and *said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you; follow him; 14 and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My ^aguest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 15 And he himself will show you a large upstairs room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.” 16 The disciples left and came to the city, and found everything just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

17 ^aWhen it was evening He *came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will ¹betray Me—²one who is eating with Me.” 19 They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, “Surely not I?” 20 But He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, the one who dips bread with Me in the bowl. 21 For the Son of Man is going away just as it is written about Him; but woe to that man ¹by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good ²for that man if he had not been born.”

22 ^aWhile they were eating, He took some bread, and ¹after a ^bblessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.” 23 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, “This is My ^ablood of the ^bcovenant, which is being poured out for many. 25 Truly I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again, until that day when I drink it, new, in the kingdom of God.”

26 ^aAnd after singing a ¹hymn, they went out to ^bthe Mount of Olives.

27 ^aAnd Jesus *said to them, “You will all ¹fall away, because it is written: ‘^bI WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP WILL BE SCATTERED.’ 28 But after I am raised, ^aI will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 But Peter said to Him, “Even if they all ¹fall away, yet I will not!” 30 And Jesus *said to him, “Truly I say to you, that ^1athis very night, before ^ba rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.” 31 But ¹Peter repeatedly said insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing as well.

32 ^aThey *came to a place named ¹Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.” 33 And He *took with Him Peter, ¹James, and John, and began to be very ^adistressed and troubled. 34 And He *said to them, “^aMy soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and ¹keep watch.” 35 And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began praying that if it were possible, ^athe hour might ¹pass Him by. 36 And He was saying, “^aAbba! ¹Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; ^byet not what I will, but what You will.” 37 And He *came and *found them sleeping, and *said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not ¹keep watch for one hour? 38 ^1aKeep watching and praying, so that you will not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again He went away and prayed, saying the same ¹words. 40 And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to say in reply to Him. 41 And He *came the third time, and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? That is enough. ^aThe hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being ¹betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let’s go; behold, the one who is betraying Me is near!”

43 ^aAnd immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, *came up, ¹accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs who were from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. 44 Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; arrest Him and lead Him away ¹under guard.” 45 And after coming, Judas immediately went to Him and *said, “^aRabbi!” and kissed Him. 46 And they laid hands on Him and arrested Him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and ¹cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a man inciting a revolt? 49 Every day I was with you ^awithin the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me; but this has taken place so that the Scriptures will be fulfilled.” 50 And ¹His disciples all left Him and fled.

51 A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they *seized him. 52 But he ¹pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

53 ^aThey led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes *gathered together. 54 And Peter had followed Him at a distance, ^aright into ^bthe courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the ¹officers and ^cwarming himself at the ²fire. 55 Now the chief priests and the entire ^1aCouncil were trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. 56 For many people were giving false testimony against Him, and so their testimonies were not consistent. 57 And then some stood up and began giving false testimony against Him, saying, 58 “We heard Him say, ‘^aI will destroy this ¹temple that was made by hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands.’” 59 And not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. 60 And then the high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not offer any answer for what these men are testifying against You?” 61 ^aBut He kept silent and did not offer any answer. ^bAgain the high priest was questioning Him, and *said to Him, “Are You the ¹Christ, the Son of ²the Blessed One?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see ^athe Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and ^bcoming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 ^aTearing his clothes, the high priest *said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? 64 You have heard the ^ablasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him as deserving of death. 65 And some began to ^aspit on Him, and ^1bto blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists and say to Him, “^cProphesy!” Then the officers took custody of Him ²and slapped Him in the face.

66 ^aAnd while Peter was below in ^bthe courtyard, one of the slave women of the high priest *came, 67 and seeing Peter ^awarming himself, she looked at him and *said, “You were with Jesus the ^bNazarene as well.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he ^awent out onto the ¹porch.² 69 The slave woman saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them!” 70 But again ^ahe denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “You really are one of them, ^bfor you are a Galilean as well.” 71 But he began to ¹curse himself and to swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” 72 And immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before ^aa rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And ¹he hurried on and began to weep.

^aIt was now two days before ^bthe Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes ^cwere searching for a deceitful way to arrest Jesus and kill Him; Matt 26:2-5; Luke 22:1, 2 2 but they were saying, “Not during the festival, for the people might riot.”

3 ^aWhile He was in ^bBethany as a guest at the home of ¹Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, a ²woman came with an alabaster vial of ^cvery costly and precious perfume of pure ³nard; and she broke the vial and poured the perfume over His head. 4 But there were ¹some who were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? 5 For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii a laborer’s wages for almost a year, and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why are you bothering her and causing trouble? She has done a good and beautiful thing to Me. 7 For you always have ^athe poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do something good to them; but you will not always have Me. Deut 15:11 8 She has done what she could; ^ashe has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. 9 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, ^awherever the good news regarding salvation is proclaimed throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

10 ^aThen Judas Iscariot, ^bwho was one of the twelve disciples, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. Matt 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6; John 6:71 11 When they heard this they were delighted, and promised to give him money. And he began looking for an opportune time to betray Jesus.

12 ^aOn the first day of the festival of ^1bUnleavened Bread, when as was customary they ^csacrificed the Passover lamb, His disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?” Matt 26:17-19; Luke 22:7-13 13 And He sent two of His disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a ¹man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him; 14 and say to the ¹owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks, “Where is My ^aguest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?”’ 15 He will show you a large upstairs room, furnished and ready with carpets and dining couches; prepare the supper for us there.” 16 The disciples left and went to the city and found everything just as He had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

17 ^aWhen it was evening, He came with the twelve disciples. Matt 26:20-25 18 While they were reclining at the table, Jesus said, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you that one of you will betray Me—one who is eating with Me.” Ps 41:9 19 They began to be grieved and deeply distressed and to say to Him one by one, “Surely not I?” 20 And He replied, “It is one of the twelve disciples, one who is dipping bread in the bowl with Me. 21 For the Son of Man goes to the cross just as it is written in Scripture of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”

22 ^aWhile they were eating, Jesus took bread and ^1bblessed it giving thanks and praise, and He broke it, and gave it to them and said, “Take it. This is My body.” Matt 26:26-29; Luke 22:17-20; 1+@Cor 11:23-25 23 And when He had taken a cup of wine and ¹given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. Ex 24:8 24 And He said to them, “This is My ^ablood of the new ^bcovenant, My blood which is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 25 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

26 ^aAfter they had sung a ¹hymn, they went out to ^bthe Mount of Olives.

27 ^aJesus said to them, “You will all fall away and be ashamed and be afraid to be associated with Me as disciples, because it is written, ‘^bI WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP WILL BE SCATTERED.’ Zech 13:7 28 But after I have been raised from the dead, ^aI will go ahead of you to Galilee.” 29 But Peter said to Him, “Even if they all fall away and desert You, ashamed and afraid of being associated with You, yet I will not do so!” 30 Jesus said to him, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, ^athis very night, before ^ba rooster crows twice, you will deny that you even know Me three times.” Matt 26:34; John 13:38 31 But Peter kept saying insistently, “If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing as well.

32 ^aThen they went to a place called Gethsemane; and Jesus said to His disciples, “Sit down here until I have prayed.” Matt 26:36-46; Luke 22:40-46 33 He took Peter and James and John with Him, and He began to be deeply ^adistressed and troubled extremely anguished at the prospect of what was to come. 34 And He said to them, “^aMy soul is deeply grieved and overwhelmed with sorrow, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” 35 After going a little farther, He fell to the ground distressed by the weight of His spiritual burden and began to pray that if it were possible in the Father’s will, ^athe hour of suffering and death for the sins of mankind might pass from Him. 36 He was saying, “^1aAbba, Father! All things are possible for You; take this cup of judgment away from Me; ^bbut not what I will, but what You will.” 37 And He came back and found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Were you unable to keep watch for one hour? 38 ^aKeep actively watching and praying so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the ¹body is weak.” 39 He went away again and prayed, saying the same words. 40 And again He came back and found them sleeping, because their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know how to answer Him. 41 He came back a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough of that! ^aThe hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Get up, let us go. Look, my betrayer is near!”

43 ^aAnd at once, while He was still speaking, Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, came up, and with him a crowd of men with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the Sanhedrin. Matt 26:47-56; Luke 22:47-53; John 18:3-11 44 Now the betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away safely under guard.” 45 When Judas came, immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “^aRabbi (Master) !” and he ¹kissed Him forcefully. 46 They laid hands on Him and seized Him. 47 But one of the bystanders Simon Peter drew his sword and struck Malchus the slave of the high priest and cut off his ear. Matt 26:51; Luke 22:50; John 18:10 48 Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber? 49 Day after day I was with you, teaching ^ain the courts and porches of the temple, and you did not seize Me; but this has happened so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled.” 50 Then all of His disciples abandoned Him and fled.

51 A young ¹man was following Him, wearing only a linen sheet over his naked body; and some men seized him. 52 But pulling free of the linen sheet, he escaped from them naked.

53 ^aThey led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) gathered together. Matt 26:57-68; Luke 22:66-71; John 18:12f, 19-24 54 Peter had followed Him at a distance, ^aright into ^bthe courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers guards and servants and ^cwarming himself at the fire. 55 Now the chief priests and the entire ^aCouncil (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court) were trying to obtain testimony against Jesus which they could use to have Him condemned and executed, but they were not finding any. 56 For many people were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimonies were not consistent. 57 Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, 58 “We heard Him say, ‘^aI will destroy this temple (sanctuary) that was made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’” John 2:19-21 59 Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent. 60 The high priest stood up and came forward and asked Jesus, “Have You no answer to give in response to what these men are testifying against You?” 61 ^aBut Jesus kept silent and gave no answer at all. ^bAgain the high priest was questioning Him, and saying to Him, “Are You the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed) , the Son of the ¹Blessed One?” 62 Jesus said, “I am; and you will all see ^aTHE SON OF MAN SEATED with authority AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER (the Father) , and ^bCOMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.” Ps 110:1; Dan 7:13 63 Then ^1atearing his robe to express his indignation, the high priest said, “What further need do we have of witnesses? Num 14:6 64 You have heard the ^ablasphemy that is, His claim to be the Son of God. What is your decision?” And they all condemned Him to be guilty and deserving of death. Lev 24:16 65 And some began to ^aspit on Him, and ^bto blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “^cProphesy by telling us who hit you!” Then the officers took custody of Him and struck him in the face.

66 ^aWhile Peter was down below in ^bthe courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came, Matt 26:69-75; Luke 22:55-62; John 18:16-18, 25-27 67 and when she saw Peter ^awarming himself, she looked intently at him and said, “You were with Jesus the ^bNazarene, too.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” Then he ^awent out of the courtyard to the porch, [¹and a rooster crowed.] 69 The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to tell the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 70 But again ^ahe denied it. After a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, “You are in fact one of them, ^bfor it is clear from your accent, that you are a Galilean, too.” 71 But he began to ¹invoke a curse on himself and to swear an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about!” 72 Immediately a rooster crowed the second time. And Peter remembered what Jesus said to him: “Before ^aa rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And thinking of this, he began weeping in anguish.