Mark 14:53–72

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.