John 18–19

Chapter 18

Judas Betrays Jesus

¹When Jesus had spoken these words, ^aHe went forth with His disciples over ^bthe ¹ravine of the Kidron, where there was ^ca garden, in which He entered ²with His disciples.

²Now Judas also, who was ¹betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had ^aoften met there with His disciples.

^3aJudas then, having received ^bthe Roman ¹cohort and ^cofficers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and ^dtorches and weapons.

⁴So Jesus, ^aknowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, “^bWhom do you seek?”

⁵They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them.

⁶So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷Therefore He again asked them, “^aWhom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”

⁸Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,”

⁹to fulfill the word which He spoke, “^aOf those whom You have given Me I lost not one.”

¹⁰Simon Peter then, ^ahaving a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus.

¹¹So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; ^athe cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

Jesus before the Priests

^12aSo ^bthe Roman ¹cohort and the ²commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him,

¹³and led Him to ^aAnnas first; for he was father-in-law of ^bCaiaphas, who was high priest that year.

¹⁴Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that ^ait was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.

^15aSimon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into ^bthe court of the high priest,

^16abut Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.

^17aThen the slave-girl who kept the door said to Peter, “^bYou are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”

¹⁸Now the slaves and the ^aofficers were standing there, having made ^ba charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were ^cwarming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.

^19aThe high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching.

²⁰Jesus answered him, “I ^ahave spoken openly to the world; I always ^btaught in ¹synagogues and ^cin the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret.

²¹“Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.”

²²When He had said this, one of the ^aofficers standing nearby ^bstruck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?”

^23aJesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?”

^24aSo Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter’s Denial of Jesus

^25aNow ^bSimon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “^cYou are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.”

²⁶One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one ^awhose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you in ^bthe garden with Him?”

²⁷Peter then denied it again, and immediately ^aa rooster crowed.

Jesus before Pilate

^28aThen they led Jesus from ^bCaiaphas into ^cthe ¹Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into the Praetorium so that ^dthey would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover.

^29aTherefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?”

³⁰They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”

³¹So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,”

³²to fulfill ^athe word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.

³³Therefore Pilate ^aentered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “^bAre You the King of the Jews?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you saying this ¹on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”

³⁵Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”

³⁶Jesus answered, “^aMy kingdom ¹is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not ²of this realm.”

³⁷Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “^aYou say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, ^bto testify to the truth. ^cEveryone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

³⁸Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

And when he had said this, he ^awent out again to the Jews and said to them, “^bI find no guilt in Him.

³⁹“^aBut you have a custom that I release someone ¹for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release for you the King of the Jews?”

⁴⁰So they cried out again, saying, “^aNot this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Chapter 19

The Crown of Thorns

¹Pilate then took Jesus and ^1ascourged Him.

^2aAnd the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and put a purple robe on Him;

³and they began to come up to Him and say, “^aHail, King of the Jews!” and to ^bgive Him slaps in the face.

⁴Pilate ^acame out again and said to them, “Behold, I am bringing Him out to you so that you may know that ^bI find no guilt in Him.”

⁵Jesus then came out, ^awearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold, the Man!”

⁶So when the chief priests and the ^aofficers saw Him, they cried out saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him, for ^bI find no guilt in Him.”

⁷The Jews answered him, “^aWe have a law, and by that law He ought to die because He ^bmade Himself out to be the Son of God.”

⁸Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid;

⁹and he ^aentered into the ¹Praetorium again and said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But ^bJesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰So Pilate said to Him, “You do not speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “^aYou would have no authority ¹over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason ^bhe who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.”

¹²As a result of this Pilate ¹made efforts to release Him, but the Jews cried out saying, “^aIf you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king ²opposes Caesar.”

¹³Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and ^asat down on the judgment seat at a place called ¹The Pavement, but ^bin ²Hebrew, Gabbatha.

¹⁴Now it was ^athe day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the ^1bsixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, ^cyour King!”

¹⁵So they cried out, “^aAway with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

The Crucifixion

¹⁶So he then ^ahanded Him over to them to be crucified.

^17aThey took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, ^1bbearing His own cross, to the place called ^cthe Place of a Skull, which is called ^din ²Hebrew, Golgotha.

¹⁸There they crucified Him, and with Him ^atwo other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between.

¹⁹Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “^aJESUS THE NAZARENE, ^bTHE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁰Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written ^ain ¹Hebrew, Latin and in Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘^aThe King of the Jews’; but that He said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’ ”

²²Pilate answered, “^aWhat I have written I have written.”

²³Then ^athe soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made ^bfour parts, a part to every soldier and also the ¹tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven ²in one piece.

²⁴So they said to one another, “^aLet us not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be”; ^bthis was to fulfill the Scripture: “They ^cdivided My outer garments among them, and for My clothing they cast ¹lots.”

²⁵Therefore the soldiers did these things.

^aBut standing by the cross of Jesus were ^bHis mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and ^cMary Magdalene.

²⁶When Jesus then saw His mother, and ^athe disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “^bWoman, behold, your son!”

²⁷Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into ^ahis own household.

²⁸After this, Jesus, ^aknowing that all things had already been accomplished, ^bto fulfill the Scripture, said, “^cI am thirsty.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so ^athey put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

³⁰Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “^aIt is finished!” And He bowed His head and ^bgave up His spirit.

Care of the Body of Jesus

³¹Then the Jews, because it was ^athe day of preparation, so that ^bthe bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (¹for that Sabbath was a ^chigh day), asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

³²So the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who was ^acrucified with Him;

³³but coming to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.

³⁴But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately ^ablood and water came out.

³⁵And he who has seen has ^atestified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may…