John 11:45–57

THE PLOT TO KILL JESUS

⁴⁵Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.^{ae 46}But some of them went to the Pharisees^af and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin^ag and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans^a will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹One of them, Caiaphas,^b who was high priest^c that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰You’re not considering that it is to your^B advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”^{d 51}He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die^e for the nation, ⁵²and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children^f of God. ⁵³So from that day on they plotted to kill him.^{g 54}Jesus therefore no longer walked openly^h among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,ⁱ to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.

⁵⁵Now the Jewish Passover^j was near, and many went up to Jerusalem^k from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. ⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple,^l “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival,^m will he?” ⁵⁷The chief priestsⁿ and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.