Matthew 26:57–68

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?”