Matthew 26:50–27:50

⁵⁰And Jesus said to him, “^aFriend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him.

⁵¹And behold, ^aone of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew out his ^bsword and struck the ^cslave of the high priest and ¹cut off his ear.

⁵²Then Jesus ^*said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for ^aall those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.

⁵³“Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve ^1alegions of ^bangels?

⁵⁴“Therefore, how will ^athe Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a robber? ^aEvery day I used to sit in the temple teaching and you did not seize Me.

⁵⁶“But all this has taken place in order that ^athe Scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

Jesus Before Caiaphas

^57aNow those who had seized Jesus led Him away to ^bCaiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

⁵⁸But ^aPeter was following Him at a distance as far as the ^bcourtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with the ^1cofficers to see the outcome.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole ^aSanhedrin kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.

⁶⁰And they did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on ^atwo came forward,

⁶¹and said, “This man stated, ‘^aI am able to destroy the ¹sanctuary of God and to rebuild it ²in three days.’”

⁶²And the high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What are these men testifying against You?”

⁶³But ^aJesus kept silent. ^bAnd the high priest said to Him, “^cI put You under oath by ^dthe living God, that You tell us whether You are the ¹Christ, ^ethe Son of God.”

⁶⁴Jesus ^*said to him, “^aYou yourself said it; nevertheless I tell you, ¹hereafter you will see ^bthe Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and ^ccoming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest ^atore his garments and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy;

⁶⁶what do you think?” They answered and said, “^aHe deserves death!”

^67aThen they ^bspat in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others ¹slapped Him,

⁶⁸and said, “^aProphesy to us, O ¹Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

Peter’s Denials

^69aNow Peter was sitting outside in the ^bcourtyard, and a servant-girl came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.”

⁷¹And when he had gone out to the gateway, another servant-girl saw him and ^*said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²And again he denied it with an oath, “I do not know the man.”

⁷³A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them; ^afor even the way you talk ¹gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵And Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said, “^aBefore a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and cried bitterly.

CHAPTER 27

Judas’ Remorse

^1aNow when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel together against Jesus to put Him to death;

²and they bound Him, and led Him away and ^adelivered Him to ^bPilate the governor.

³Then when ^aJudas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned ^bthe ¹thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

⁴saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? ^aSee to that yourself!”

⁵And he threw the pieces of silver into ^athe ¹sanctuary and departed; and ^bhe went away and hanged himself.

⁶And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.”

⁷And taking counsel together, they bought ¹with the money the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers.

^8aFor this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

⁹Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “^aAnd ¹they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel;

^10aand ¹they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the ²Lord directed me.”

Jesus Before Pilate

^11aNow Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, “Are You the ^bKing of the Jews?” And Jesus said to him, “^cYou yourself say it.”

¹²And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, ^aHe did not answer.

¹³Then Pilate ^*said to Him, “Do You not hear how many things they testify against You?”

¹⁴And ^aHe did not answer him with regard to even a single ¹charge, so the governor marveled greatly.

^15aNow at the feast the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted.

¹⁶And at that time they were holding a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.

¹⁷So when the people gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you? ¹Barabbas, or Jesus ^awho is called ²Christ?”

¹⁸For he knew that because of envy they had delivered Him over.

^19aNow while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that ^brighteous Man; for ¹last night I suffered greatly ^cin a dream because of Him.”

²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ^aask for Barabbas and to put Jesus to death.

²¹But the governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas.”

²²Pilate ^*said to them, “Then, what shall I do with Jesus ^awho is called ¹Christ?” They all ^*said, “Let Him be crucified!”

²³And he said, “Why, what evil did He do?” But they were crying out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”

²⁴Now when Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that ^aa riot was starting, he took water and ^bwashed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of ^cthis man’s blood; ^dsee to that yourselves.”

²⁵And all the people answered and said, “^aHis blood be on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas ¹for them; but after having Jesus ^ascourged, he delivered Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^27aThen when the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into ^bthe ¹Praetorium, they gathered the whole Roman ^2ccohort around Him.

²⁸And they stripped Him and ^aput a scarlet robe on Him.

^29aAnd after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a ¹reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “^bHail, King of the Jews!”

^30aAnd they spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head.

^31aWhen they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

^32aAnd as they were coming out, they found a man of ^bCyrene named Simon, ¹whom they pressed into service to bear His cross.

The Crucifixion

^33aAnd when they came to a place called ^bGolgotha, which means Place of a Skull,

^34athey gave Him ^bwine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He did not want to drink.

³⁵And when they had crucified Him, ^athey divided up His garments among themselves by casting ¹lots.

³⁶And sitting down, they began to ^akeep watch over Him there.

³⁷And above His head they put up the charge against Him ¹which read, “^aTHIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

³⁸At that time two robbers ^*were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁹And those passing by were blaspheming Him, ^ashaking their heads

⁴⁰and saying, “^aYou who are going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! ^bIf You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”

⁴¹In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying,

⁴²“^aHe saved others; ¹He cannot save Himself. ^bHe is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.

⁴³“^aHe trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He ¹delights in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

^44aAnd the robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

^45aNow from the ¹sixth hour darkness ²fell upon all the land until the ³ninth hour.

⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “^aEli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

⁴⁷And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, “This man is calling for Elijah.”

^48aAnd immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.

⁴⁹But the rest of them were saying, “¹Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him².”

⁵⁰And Jesus ^acried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.