New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Matthew chapter 26

When Jesus finished saying all of this, he told his ,“You know that is two days away, and the will be handed over to be .”Then the and the of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was ,and they plotted together to arrest Jesus by some trick and kill him.But they said, “Not during the festival, or there might be a riot among the people.”While Jesus was in at the home of Simon the ,a woman came to him with an of very expensive perfumed oil and poured it over his head while he was .When the students saw this, they were outraged. “What a waste!” they said.“This perfume could have been sold for a huge amount of money and given to the poor.”Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She’s done something beautiful for me.You’ll always have the poor among you, but you won’t always have me.When she poured this perfume on my body, she was preparing me for burial.I’m telling you the truth — wherever this is announced in the whole world, what she did will also be told as a tribute to her.”Then one of the twelve — — went to the chief priestsand asked, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him .From that moment on, Judas watched for an opportunity to him.On the first day of the , the students came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?”He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: is near. I’m celebrating the Passover at your house with my students.’”The students did as Jesus directed and prepared the Passover meal.When evening came, Jesus reclined at the table with .While they were eating, he said, “I’m telling you the truth — one of you is going to betray me.”They were devastated and began saying to him, one after another, “It’s not me, is it, ?”He answered, “The one who dipped his hand into the bowl with me — that’s who will betray me.The Son of Man is going where it was written he would go, but how terrible it will be for the man who betrays the Son of Man. It would have been better for that man if he had never been born.”Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “It’s not me, is it, ?” Jesus said to him, “You’ve said it yourself.”While they were eating, Jesus took , over it, broke it, and gave it to the students. He said, “Take this and eat it. This is my .”Then he took a , , and gave it to them, saying, “All of you, drink from this.This is my of the , poured out for many for the .I’m telling you, I will not drink this fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s .”After singing a , they went out to the .Then Jesus told them, “Tonight, all of you will because of me, because it’s written: ‘I will strike the , and the sheep of the flock will scatter.’But after I’ve been , I’ll go ahead of you to Galilee.”Peter spoke up and said, “Even if everyone else falls away because of you, I never will.”Jesus said to him, “I’m telling you the truth — tonight, before the rooster crows, you will me three times.”Peter said to him, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the other students said the same thing.Then Jesus went with them to a place called and told the students, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, and he began to be and .He said to them, “My is being crushed by grief — it’s almost killing me. Stay here and keep watch with me.”He walked a little farther, fell face-down on the ground, and prayed: “My Father, if there’s any way, take this away from me. But not what I want — what you want.”He went back and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “So you couldn’t keep watch with me for even one hour?Stay awake and pray that you won’t be . The is willing, but the body is weak.”He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if this cup can’t be taken away unless I drink it, then let what you want be done.”He came back again and found them sleeping — their eyes were so heavy they couldn’t keep them open.So he left them, went away again, and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.Then he came back to the students and said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look — has arrived, and the Son of Man is being handed over to .Get up, let’s go. Look — here comes the one who is betraying me.”While he was still speaking, Judas — one of the twelve — arrived, and with him was a large crowd carrying swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and elders of the people.The betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I — that’s him. Grab him.”He went straight to Jesus and said, “Hello, Rabbi!” and kissed him.Jesus said to him, “, do what you came to do.” Then they came forward, grabbed Jesus, and arrested him.One of those with Jesus reached for his sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear.Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back where it belongs. Everyone who picks up the sword will be destroyed by the sword.Do you think I can’t call on my Father, and he would immediately send me more than twelve of angels?But then how would the be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”At that moment, Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me like I’m some kind of ? Every day I sat teaching in the , and you didn’t arrest me.But all of this has happened so that what the prophets wrote would be fulfilled.” Then all the students him and ran.The ones who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the and the elders had gathered.Peter followed him at a distance, all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. He went inside and sat down with the guards to see what would happen.The chief priests and the whole were looking for false testimony against Jesus so they could have him executed,but they couldn’t find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two came forwardand said, “This man said, ‘I’m able to tear down God’s temple and rebuild it in three days.’”The high priest stood up and said to him, “Don’t you have anything to say? What about their testimony against you?”But Jesus . The high priest said to him, “I’m putting you under oath before the living God — tell us if you are , the .”Jesus said to him, “You’ve said it yourself. But I tell you — from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the and coming on the .”Then the high priest and said, “He has ! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look — you’ve just heard the offense against God with your own ears!What’s your verdict?” They answered, “He deserves to die.”Then they spit in his face and punched him. Others slapped himand said, “ for us, One! Who hit you?”Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the too.”But he denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.When he went out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and told the people standing there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”He denied it again, this time : “I don’t know the man!”After a little while, the people standing around came up to Peter and said, “You’re definitely one of them — your accent gives you away.”Then he started and swearing, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed.Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and broke down — weeping bitterly, his whole body shaking with the kind of grief that comes when you realize you’ve become exactly the person you swore you’d never be.