Matthew 26:50–27:50

⁵⁰Jesus answered, “Friend, do what you came to do.”

Then the people came and grabbed Jesus and arrested him. ⁵¹When that happened, one of Jesus’ followers reached for his sword and pulled it out. He struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

⁵²Jesus said to the man, “Put your sword back in its place. All who use swords will be killed with swords. ⁵³Surely you know I could ask my Father, and he would give me more than twelve armies of angels. ⁵⁴But it must happen this way to bring about what the Scriptures say.”

⁵⁵Then Jesus said to the crowd, “You came to get me with swords and clubs as if I were a criminal. Every day I sat in the Temple teaching, and you did not arrest me there. ⁵⁶But all these things have happened so that it will come about as the prophets wrote.” Then all of Jesus’ followers left him and ran away.

Jesus Before the Leaders

⁵⁷Those people who arrested Jesus led him to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders were gathered. ⁵⁸Peter followed far behind to the courtyard of the high priest’s house, and he sat down with the guards to see what would happen to Jesus.

⁵⁹The leading priests and the whole Jewish council tried to find something false against Jesus so they could kill him. ⁶⁰Many people came and told lies about him, but the council could find no real reason to kill him. Then two people came and said, ⁶¹“This man said, ‘I can destroy the Temple of God and build it again in three days.’ ”

⁶²Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Aren’t you going to answer? Don’t you have something to say about their charges against you?” ⁶³But Jesus said nothing.

Again the high priest said to Jesus, “I command you by the power of the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴Jesus answered, “Those are your words. But I tell you, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, the Powerful One, and coming on clouds in the sky.”

⁶⁵When the high priest heard this, he tore his clothes and said, “This man has said things that are against God! We don’t need any more witnesses; you all heard him say these things against God. ⁶⁶What do you think?”

The people answered, “He should die.”

⁶⁷Then the people there spat in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. Others slapped him. ⁶⁸They said, “Prove to us that you are a prophet, you Christ! Tell us who hit you!”

Peter Says He Doesn’t Know Jesus

⁶⁹At that time, as Peter was sitting in the courtyard, a servant girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”

⁷⁰But Peter said to all the people there that he was never with Jesus. He said, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

⁷¹When he left the courtyard and was at the gate, another girl saw him. She said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²Again, Peter said he was never with him, saying, “I swear I don’t know this man Jesus!”

⁷³A short time later, some people standing there went to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of those who followed Jesus. The way you talk shows it.”

⁷⁴Then Peter began to place a curse on himself and swear, “I don’t know the man.” At once, a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵And Peter remembered what Jesus had told him: “Before the rooster crows, you will say three times that you don’t know me.” Then Peter went outside and cried painfully.

Jesus Is Taken to Pilate

27Early the next morning, all the leading priests and elders of the people decided that Jesus should die. ²They tied him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate, the governor.

Judas Kills Himself

³Judas, the one who had given Jesus to his enemies, saw that they had decided to kill Jesus. Then he was very sorry for what he had done. So he took the thirty silver coins back to the priests and the leaders, ⁴saying, “I sinned; I handed over to you an innocent man.”

The leaders answered, “What is that to us? That’s your problem, not ours.”

⁵So Judas threw the money into the Temple. Then he went off and hanged himself.

⁶The leading priests picked up the silver coins in the Temple and said, “Our law does not allow us to keep this money with the Temple money, because it has paid for a man’s death.” ⁷So they decided to use the coins to buy Potter’s Field as a place to bury strangers who died in Jerusalem. ⁸That is why that field is still called the Field of Blood. ⁹So what Jeremiah the prophet had said came true: “They took thirty silver coins. That is how little the Israelites thought he was worth. ¹⁰They used those thirty silver coins to buy the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” ⁿ

Pilate Questions Jesus

¹¹Jesus stood before Pilate the governor, and Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Those are your words.”

¹²When the leading priests and the elders accused Jesus, he said nothing.

¹³So Pilate said to Jesus, “Don’t you hear them accusing you of all these things?”

¹⁴But Jesus said nothing in answer to Pilate, and Pilate was very surprised at this.

Pilate Tries to Free Jesus

¹⁵Every year at the time of Passover the governor would free one prisoner whom the people chose. ¹⁶At that time there was a man in prison, named Barabbas, ⁿ who was known to be very bad. ¹⁷When the people gathered at Pilate’s house, Pilate said, “Whom do you want me to set free: Barabbas ⁿ or Jesus who is called the Christ?” ¹⁸Pilate knew that they turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting there on the judge’s seat, his wife sent this message to him: “Don’t do anything to that man, because he is innocent. Today I had a dream about him, and it troubled me very much.”

²⁰But the leading priests and elders convinced the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be freed and for Jesus to be killed.

²¹Pilate said, “I have Barabbas and Jesus. Which do you want me to set free for you?”

The people answered, “Barabbas.”

²²Pilate asked, “So what should I do with Jesus, the one called the Christ?”

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”

But they shouted louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he could do nothing about this and that a riot was starting, he took some water and washed his hands ⁿ in front of the crowd. Then he said, “I am not guilty of this man’s death. You are the ones who are causing it!”

²⁵All the people answered, “We and our children will be responsible for his death.”

²⁶Then he set Barabbas free. But Jesus was beaten with whips and handed over to the soldiers to be crucified.

²⁷The governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace, and they all gathered around him. ²⁸They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him. ²⁹Using thorny branches, they made a crown, put it on his head, and put a stick in his right hand. Then the soldiers bowed before Jesus and made fun of him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰They spat on Jesus. Then they took his stick and began to beat him on the head. ³¹After they finished, the soldiers took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified

³²As the soldiers were going out of the city with Jesus, they forced a man from Cyrene, named Simon, to carry the cross for Jesus. ³³They all came to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. ³⁴The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with gall ⁿ to drink. He tasted the wine but refused to drink it. ³⁵When the soldiers had crucified him, they threw lots to decide who would get his clothes. ^{n 36}The soldiers sat there and continued watching him. ³⁷They put a sign above Jesus’ head with a charge against him. It said: this is jesus, the king of the jews. ³⁸Two robbers were crucified beside Jesus, one on the right and the other on the left. ³⁹People walked by and insulted Jesus and shook their heads, ⁴⁰saying, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. So save yourself! Come down from that cross if you are really the Son of God!”

⁴¹The leading priests, the teachers of the law, and the Jewish elders were also making fun of Jesus. ⁴²They said, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! He says he is the king of Israel! If he is the king, let him come down now from the cross. Then we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God, so let God save him now, if God really wants him. He himself said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” ⁴⁴And in the same way, the robbers who were being crucified beside Jesus also insulted him.

Jesus Dies

⁴⁵At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours. ⁴⁶About three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” This means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

⁴⁷Some of the people standing there who heard this said, “He is calling Elijah.”

⁴⁸Quickly one of them ran and got a sponge and filled it with vinegar and tied it to a stick and gave it to Jesus to drink. ⁴⁹But the others said, “Don’t bother him. We want to see if Elijah will come to save him.”

⁵⁰But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and died.