Matthew 26:1–29

The Plan to Kill Jesus

26After Jesus finished saying all these things, he told his followers, ²“You know that the day after tomorrow is the day of the Passover Feast. On that day the Son of Man will be given to his enemies to be crucified.”

³Then the leading priests and the elders had a meeting at the palace of the high priest, named Caiaphas. ⁴At the meeting, they planned to set a trap to arrest Jesus and kill him. ⁵But they said, “We must not do it during the feast, because the people might cause a riot.”

Perfume for Jesus’ Burial

⁶Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon, who had a skin disease. ⁷While Jesus was there, a woman approached him with an alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. She poured this perfume on Jesus’ head while he was eating.

⁸His followers were upset when they saw the woman do this. They asked, “Why waste that perfume? ⁹It could have been sold for a great deal of money and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰Knowing what had happened, Jesus said, “Why are you troubling this woman? She did an excellent thing for me. ¹¹You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. ¹²This woman poured perfume on my body to prepare me for burial. ¹³I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached in all the world, what this woman has done will be told, and people will remember her.”

Judas Becomes an Enemy of Jesus

¹⁴Then one of the twelve apostles, Judas Iscariot, went to talk to the leading priests. ¹⁵He said, “What will you pay me for giving Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty silver coins. ¹⁶After that, Judas watched for the best time to turn Jesus in.

Jesus Eats the Passover Meal

¹⁷On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the followers came to Jesus. They said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”

¹⁸Jesus answered, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: “The chosen time is near. I will have the Passover with my followers at your house.” ’ ” ¹⁹The followers did what Jesus told them to do, and they prepared the Passover meal.

²⁰In the evening Jesus was sitting at the table with his twelve followers. ²¹As they were eating, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will turn against me.”

²²This made the followers very sad. Each one began to say to Jesus, “Surely, Lord, I am not the one who will turn against you, am I?”

²³Jesus answered, “The man who has dipped his hand with me into the bowl is the one who will turn against me. ²⁴The Son of Man will die, just as the Scriptures say. But how terrible it will be for the person who hands the Son of Man over to be killed. It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

²⁵Then Judas, who would give Jesus to his enemies, said to Jesus, “Teacher, surely I am not the one, am I?”

Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”

The Lord’s Supper

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it. Then he gave it to his followers and said, “Take this bread and eat it; this is my body.”

²⁷Then Jesus took a cup and thanked God for it and gave it to the followers. He said, “Every one of you drink this. ²⁸This is my blood which is the new ⁿ agreement that God makes with his people. This blood is poured out for many to forgive their sins. ²⁹I tell you this: I will not drink of this fruit of the vine ⁿ again until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”