Matthew 26:1–29

The Plot against Jesus

26When Jesus had finished teaching all these things, he said to his disciples, ^2*“In two days, as you know, it will be the Passover Festival, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders met together in the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest, ⁴and made plans to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death. ⁵“We must not do it during the festival,” they said, “or the people will riot.”

Jesus Is Anointed at Bethany

⁶Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, a man who had suffered from a dreaded skin disease. ^7*While Jesus was eating, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar filled with an expensive perfume, which she poured on his head. ⁸The disciples saw this and became angry. “Why all this waste?” they asked. ⁹“This perfume could have been sold for a large amount and the money given to the poor!”

¹⁰Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? It is a fine and beautiful thing that she has done for me. ^11*You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²What she did was to pour this perfume on my body to get me ready for burial. ¹³Now, I assure you that wherever this gospel is preached all over the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

¹⁴Then one of the twelve disciples—the one named Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests ^15*and asked, “What will you give me if I betray Jesus to you?” They counted out 30 silver coins and gave them to him. ¹⁶From then on Judas was looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them.

Jesus Eats the Passover Meal with His Disciples

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked him, “Where do you want us to get the Passover meal ready for you?”

¹⁸“Go to a certain man in the city,” he said to them, “and tell him: ‘The Teacher says, My hour has come; my disciples and I will celebrate the Passover at your house.’ ”

¹⁹The disciples did as Jesus had told them and prepared the Passover meal.

²⁰When it was evening, Jesus and the twelve disciples sat down to eat. ²¹During the meal Jesus said, “I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

²²The disciples were very upset and began to ask him, one after the other, “Surely, Lord, you don’t mean me?”

^23*Jesus answered, “One who dips his bread in the dish with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man will die as the Scriptures say he will, but how terrible for that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would have been better for that man if he had never been born!”

²⁵Judas, the traitor, spoke up. “Surely, Teacher, you don’t mean me?” he asked.

Jesus answered, “So you say.”

The Lord’s Supper

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took a piece of bread, gave a prayer of thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples. “Take and eat it,” he said; “this is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup, gave thanks to God, and gave it to them. “Drink it, all of you,” he said; ^28*“this is my blood, which seals God’s covenant, my blood poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you, I will never again drink this wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”