Matthew 25–27

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like^d ten virgins who took their lamps^e and went out to meet the bridegroom.^{f 2}Five of them were foolish and five were wise.^{g 3}The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. ⁵The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.^h

⁶“At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

⁷“Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ⁱ

⁹“ ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰“But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet.^j And the door was shut.

¹¹“Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

¹²“But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’^k

¹³“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.^l

The Parable of the Bags of Gold

25:14–30Ref—Lk 19:12–27

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey,^m who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,^a each according to his ability.ⁿ Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. ¹⁷So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

¹⁹“After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.^{o 20}The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

²¹“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.^p Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²²“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

²³“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.^q Come and share your master’s happiness!’

²⁴“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

²⁶“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? ²⁷Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

²⁸“ ‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. ²⁹For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.^{r 30}And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’^s

The Sheep and the Goats

³¹“When the Son of Man comes^t in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.^{u 32}All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate^v the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.^{w 33}He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom^x prepared for you since the creation of the world.^{y 35}For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,^{z 36}I needed clothes and you clothed me,^a I was sick and you looked after me,^b I was in prison and you came to visit me.’^c

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’^d

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me,^e you who are cursed, into the eternal fire^f prepared for the devil and his angels.^{g 42}For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’^h

⁴⁶“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.ⁱ”^j

The Plot Against Jesus

26:2–5pp—Mk 14:1,2; Lk 22:1,2

26When Jesus had finished saying all these things,^k he said to his disciples, ²“As you know, the Passover^l is two days away—and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled^m in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,^{n 4}and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.^{o 5}“But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot^p among the people.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

26:6–13pp—Mk 14:3–9 26:6–13Ref—Lk 7:37,38; Jn 12:1–8

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany^q in the home of Simon the Leper, ⁷a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. ⁹“This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ¹¹The poor you will always have with you,^ar but you will not always have me. ¹²When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.^{s 13}Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

26:14–16pp—Mk 14:10,11; Lk 22:3–6

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot^t—went to the chief priests ¹⁵and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.^{u 16}From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

The Last Supper

26:17–19pp—Mk 14:12–16; Lk 22:7–13 26:20–24pp—Mk 14:17–21 26:26–29pp—Mk 14:22–25; Lk 22:17–20; 1Co 11:23–25

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^v the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”^w

¹⁸He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time^x is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’ ” ¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. ²¹And while they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”^y

²²They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord?”

²³Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.^{z 24}The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him.^a But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁵Then Judas, the one who would betray him,^b said, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi?”^c

Jesus answered, “You have said so.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it^d and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

²⁷Then he took a cup,^e and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸This is my blood of the^b covenant,^f which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.^{g 29}I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you^h in my Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.ⁱ

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

26:31–35pp—Mk 14:27–31; Lk 22:31–34

³¹Then Jesus told them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of me,^j for it is written:

“ ‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’^ck

³²But after I have risen, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”^l

³³Peter replied, “Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”^m

³⁵But Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you,ⁿ I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.

Gethsemane

26:36–46pp—Mk 14:32–42; Lk 22:40–46

³⁶Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee^o along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow^p to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”^q

³⁹Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is…