Mark 14:12–15:47

The Last Passover

^12aOn the first day of ^bUnleavened Bread, when ¹the Passover lamb was being ^csacrificed, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

¹³And He sent two of His disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him;

¹⁴and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is My ^aguest room in which I may eat the Passover with My disciples?” ’

¹⁵“And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready; prepare for us there.”

¹⁶The disciples went out and came to the city, and found it just as He had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

^17aWhen it was evening He came with the twelve.

¹⁸As they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will ¹betray Me—²one who is eating with Me.”

¹⁹They began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰And He said to them, “It is one of the twelve, ¹one who dips with Me in the bowl.

²¹“For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man ¹by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good ²for that man if he had not been born.”

The Lord’s Supper

^22aWhile they were eating, He took some bread, and ¹after a ^bblessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is My body.”

²³And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it.

²⁴And He said to them, “This is My ^ablood of the ^bcovenant, which is poured out for many.

²⁵“Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

^26aAfter singing a hymn, they went out to ^bthe Mount of Olives.

^27aAnd Jesus said to them, “You will all ¹fall away, because it is written, ‘^bI will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.’

²⁸“But after I have been raised, ^aI will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

²⁹But Peter said to Him, “Even though all may ¹fall away, yet I will not.”

³⁰And Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, that ^1athis very night, before ^ba rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny Me three times.”

³¹But Peter kept saying insistently, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And they all were saying the same thing also.

Jesus in Gethsemane

^32aThey came to a place named Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples, “Sit here until I have prayed.”

³³And He took with Him Peter and ¹James and John, and began to be very ^adistressed and troubled.

³⁴And He said to them, “^aMy soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.”

³⁵And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, ^athe hour might ¹pass Him by.

³⁶And He was saying, “^aAbba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; ^byet not what I will, but what You will.”

³⁷And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?

³⁸“^aKeep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹Again He went away and prayed, saying the same ¹words.

⁴⁰And again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to answer Him.

⁴¹And He came the third time, and said to them, “¹Are you still sleeping and resting? It is enough; ^athe hour has come; behold, the Son of Man is being ²betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴²“Get up, let us be going; behold, the one who betrays Me is at hand!”

Betrayal and Arrest

^43aImmediately while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up ¹accompanied by a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.

⁴⁴Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; seize Him and lead Him away ¹under guard.”

⁴⁵After coming, Judas immediately went to Him, saying, “^aRabbi!” and kissed Him.

⁴⁶They laid hands on Him and seized Him.

⁴⁷But one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest and ¹cut off his ear.

⁴⁸And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me, as you would against a robber?

⁴⁹“Every day I was with you ^ain the temple teaching, and you did not seize Me; but this has taken place to fulfill the Scriptures.”

⁵⁰And they all left Him and fled.

⁵¹A young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body; and they seized him.

⁵²But he ¹pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked.

Jesus before His Accusers

^53aThey led Jesus away to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together.

⁵⁴Peter had followed Him at a distance, ^aright into ^bthe courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the ¹officers and ^cwarming himself at the ²fire.

⁵⁵Now the chief priests and the whole ^1aCouncil kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any.

⁵⁶For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent.

⁵⁷Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying,

⁵⁸“We heard Him say, ‘^aI will destroy this ¹temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ”

⁵⁹Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent.

⁶⁰The high priest stood up and came forward and questioned Jesus, saying, “Do You not answer? ¹What is it that these men are testifying against You?”

^61aBut He kept silent and did not answer. ^bAgain the high priest was questioning Him, and ¹saying to Him, “Are You ²the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶²And Jesus said, “I am; and you shall see ^athe Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and ^bcoming with the clouds of heaven.”

^63aTearing his clothes, the high priest said, “What further need do we have of witnesses?

⁶⁴“You have heard the ^ablasphemy; how does it seem to you?” And they all condemned Him to be deserving of death.

⁶⁵Some began to ^aspit at Him, and ^1bto blindfold Him, and to beat Him with their fists, and to say to Him, “^cProphesy!” And the officers ²received Him with ³slaps in the face.

Peter’s Denials

^66aAs Peter was below in ^bthe courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came,

⁶⁷and seeing Peter ^awarming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus the ^bNazarene.”

⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he ^awent out onto the ¹porch.²

⁶⁹The servant-girl saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This is one of them!”

⁷⁰But again ^ahe denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, ^bfor you are a Galilean too.”

⁷¹But he began to ¹curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!”

⁷²Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before ^aa rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” ¹And he began to weep.

Chapter 15

Jesus before Pilate

^1aEarly in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole ^1bCouncil, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate.

^2aPilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him, “It is as you say.”

³The chief priests began to accuse Him ¹harshly.

⁴Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!”

⁵But Jesus ^amade no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

^6aNow at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.

⁷The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.

⁸The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them.

⁹Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

¹⁰For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd ^ato ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.

¹²Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted ¹back, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁴But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁵Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus ^ascourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^16aThe soldiers took Him away into ^bthe ¹palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman ^2ccohort.

¹⁷They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him;

¹⁸and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

¹⁹They kept beating His head with a ¹reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.

²⁰After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.

^21aThey pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and ^bRufus), to bear His cross.

The Crucifixion

^22aThen they brought Him to the place ^bGolgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

²³They tried to give Him ^awine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.

²⁴And they crucified Him, and ^adivided up His garments among themselves, casting ¹lots for them to decide ²what each man should take.

²⁵It was the ^1athird hour ²when they crucified Him.

²⁶The inscription of the charge against Him ¹read, “^aTHE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

²⁸¹And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”

²⁹Those passing by were ¹hurling abuse at Him, ^awagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to ^bdestroy the temple and…