Matthew 26:50–27:50

⁵⁰Jesus answered, “Be quick about it, friend!”^a

Then they came up, arrested Jesus, and held him tight. ⁵¹One of those who were with Jesus drew his sword and struck at the High Priest’s slave, cutting off his ear. ⁵²“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “All who take the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Don’t you know that I could call on my Father for help, and at once he would send me more than twelve armies of angels? ⁵⁴But in that case, how could the Scriptures come true which say that this is what must happen?”

^55*Then Jesus spoke to the crowd, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs to capture me, as though I were an outlaw? Every day I sat down and taught in the Temple, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But all this has happened in order to make what the prophets wrote in the Scriptures come true.”

Then all the disciples left him and ran away.

Jesus Before the Council

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus took him to the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest, where the teachers of the Law and the elders had gathered together. ⁵⁸Peter followed from a distance, as far as the courtyard of the High Priest’s house. He went into the courtyard and sat down with the guards to see how it would all come out. ⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Council tried to find some false evidence against Jesus to put him to death; ⁶⁰but they could not find any, even though many people came forward and told lies about him. Finally two men stepped up ^61*and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to tear down God’s Temple and three days later build it up again.’ ”

⁶²The High Priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Have you no answer to give to this accusation against you?” ⁶³But Jesus kept quiet. Again the High Priest spoke to him, “In the name of the living God I now put you on oath: tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

^64*Jesus answered him, “So you say. But I tell all of you: from this time on you will see the Son of Man sitting on the right of the Almighty and coming on the clouds of heaven!”

^65*At this the High Priest tore his clothes and said, “Blasphemy! We don’t need any more witnesses! You have just heard his blasphemy! ^66*What do you think?”

They answered, “He is guilty and must die.”

^67*Then they spat in his face and beat him; and those who slapped him ⁶⁸said, “Prophesy for us, Messiah! Guess who hit you!”

Peter Denies Jesus

⁶⁹Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard when one of the High Priest’s servant women came to him and said, “You, too, were with Jesus of Galilee.”

⁷⁰But he denied it in front of them all. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he answered, ⁷¹and went on out to the entrance of the courtyard. Another servant woman saw him and said to the men there, “He was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²Again Peter denied it and answered, “I swear that I don’t know that man!”

⁷³After a little while the men standing there came to Peter. “Of course you are one of them,” they said. “After all, the way you speak gives you away!”

⁷⁴Then Peter said, “I swear that I am telling the truth! May God punish me if I am not! I do not know that man!”

Just then a cock crowed, ⁷⁵and Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: “Before the cock crows, you will say three times that you do not know me.” He went out and wept bitterly.

Jesus Is Taken to Pilate

27Early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders made their plans against Jesus to put him to death. ²They put him in chains, led him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor.

The Death of Judas

^3*When Judas, the traitor, learnt that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and took back the 30 silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. ^4*“I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death!” he said.

“What do we care about that?” they answered. “That is your business!”

^5*Judas threw the coins down in the Temple and left; then he went off and hanged himself.

^6*The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “This is blood money, and it is against our Law to put it in the temple treasury.” ^7*After reaching an agreement about it, they used the money to buy Potter’s Field, as a cemetery for foreigners. ^8*That is why that field is called “Field of Blood” to this very day.

^9*Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: “They took the thirty silver coins, the amount the people of Israel had agreed to pay for him, ^10*and used the money to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord had commanded me.”

Pilate Questions Jesus

¹¹Jesus stood before the Roman governor, who questioned him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked.

“So you say,” answered Jesus. ¹²But he said nothing in response to the accusations of the chief priests and elders.

¹³So Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear all these things they accuse you of?”

¹⁴But Jesus refused to answer a single word, with the result that the Governor was greatly surprised.

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death

¹⁵At every Passover Festival the Roman governor was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the crowd asked for. ¹⁶At that time there was a well-known prisoner named Jesus Barabbas. ¹⁷So when the crowd gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to set free for you? Jesus Barabbas or Jesus called the Messiah?” ¹⁸He knew very well that the Jewish authorities had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting in the judgement hall, his wife sent him a message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, because in a dream last night I suffered much on account of him.”

²⁰The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask Pilate to set Barabbas free and have Jesus put to death. ²¹But Pilate asked the crowd, “Which one of these two do you want me to set free for you?”

“Barabbas!” they answered.

²²“What, then, shall I do with Jesus called the Messiah?” Pilate asked them.

“Crucify him!” they all answered.

²³But Pilate asked, “What crime has he committed?”

Then they started shouting at the top of their voices: “Crucify him!”

^24*When Pilate saw that it was no use to go on, but that a riot might break out, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am not responsible for the death of this man! This is your doing!”

²⁵The whole crowd answered, “Let the responsibility for his death fall on us and our children!”

²⁶Then Pilate set Barabbas free for them; and after he had Jesus whipped, he handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

²⁷Then Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and the whole company gathered round him. ²⁸They stripped off his clothes and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹Then they made a crown out of thorny branches and placed it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand; then they knelt before him and mocked him. “Long live the King of the Jews!” they said. ³⁰They spat on him, and took the stick and hit him over the head. ³¹When they had finished mocking him, they took the robe off and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Jesus Is Crucified

³²As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha, which means, “The Place of the Skull”. ^34*There they offered Jesus wine mixed with a bitter substance; but after tasting it, he would not drink it.

^35*They crucified him and then divided his clothes among them by throwing dice. ³⁶After that they sat there and watched him. ³⁷Above his head they put the written notice of the accusation against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” ³⁸Then they crucified two bandits with Jesus, one on his right and the other on his left.

^39*People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus: ^40*“You were going to tear down the Temple and build it up again in three days! Save yourself if you are God’s Son! Come on down from the cross!”

⁴¹In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders jeered at him: ⁴²“He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Isn’t he the king of Israel? If he comes down off the cross now, we will believe in him! ^43*He trusts in God and claims to be God’s Son. Well, then, let us see if God wants to save him now!”

⁴⁴Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours. ^46*At about three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why did you abandon me?”

⁴⁷Some of the people standing there heard him and said, “He is calling for Elijah!” ^48*One of them ran up at once, took a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, put it on the end of a stick, and tried to make him drink it.

⁴⁹But the others said, “Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!”

⁵⁰Jesus again gave a loud cry and breathed his last.