The Betrayal of Jesus

¹After Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley, where they entered a garden.

²Now Judas His betrayer also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples.

³So Judas brought a band of soldiers and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They arrived at the garden carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Jesus, knowing all that was coming upon Him, stepped forward and asked them, “Whom are you seeking?”

⁵“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.Jesus said, “I am He.”And Judas His betrayer was standing there with them.

⁶When Jesus said, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground.

⁷So He asked them again, “Whom are you seeking?”“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.

⁸“I told you that I am He,” Jesus replied. “So if you are looking for Me, let these men go.”

⁹This was to fulfill the word He had spoken: “I have not lost one of those You have given Me.”

¹⁰Then Simon Peter drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

¹¹“Put your sword back in its sheath!” Jesus said to Peter. “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

¹²Then the band of soldiers, with its commander and the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him.

¹³They brought Him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.

¹⁴Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it would be better if one man died for the people.

Peter’s First Denial

¹⁵Now Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he also went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest.

¹⁶But Peter stood outside at the door. Then the disciple who was known to the high priest went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in.

¹⁷At this, the servant girl watching the door said to Peter, “Aren’t you also one of this man’s disciples?”“I am not,” he answered.

¹⁸Because it was cold, the servants and officers were standing around a charcoal fire they had made to keep warm. And Peter was also standing with them, warming himself.

Jesus before the High Priest

¹⁹Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching.

²⁰“I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I always taught in the synagogues and at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.

²¹Why are you asking Me? Ask those who heard My message. Surely they know what I said.”

²²When Jesus had said this, one of the officers standing nearby slapped Him in the face and said, “Is this how You answer the high priest?”

²³Jesus replied, “If I said something wrong, testify as to what was wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why did you strike Me?”

²⁴Then Annas sent Him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter’s Second and Third Denials

²⁵Simon Peter was still standing and warming himself. So they asked him, “Aren’t you also one of His disciples?”He denied it and said, “I am not.”

²⁶One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you with Him in the garden?”

²⁷Peter denied it once more, and immediately a rooster crowed.

Jesus before Pilate

²⁸Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

²⁹So Pilate went out to them and asked, “What accusation are you bringing against this man?”

³⁰“If He were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed Him over to you.”

³¹“You take Him and judge Him by your own law,” Pilate told them.“We are not permitted to execute anyone,” the Jews replied.

³²This was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.

³³Pilate went back into the Praetorium, summoned Jesus, and asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

³⁴“Are you saying this on your own,” Jesus asked, “or did others tell you about Me?”

³⁵“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”

³⁶Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world; if it were, My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Jews. But now My kingdom is not of this realm.”

³⁷“Then You are a king!” Pilate said.“You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”

³⁸“What is truth?” Pilate asked.And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against Him.

³⁹But it is your custom that I release to you one prisoner at the Passover. So then, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

⁴⁰“Not this man,” they shouted, “but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was an insurrectionist.)

The Plot to Kill Jesus

¹When Jesus had finished saying all these things, He told His disciples,

²“You know that the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,

⁴and they conspired to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.

⁵“But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

⁶While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper,

⁷a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.

⁸When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and asked, “Why this waste?

⁹This perfume could have been sold at a high price, and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰Aware of this, Jesus asked, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful deed to Me.

¹¹The poor you will always have with you,but you will not always have Me.

¹²By pouring this perfume on Me, she has prepared My body for burial.

¹³Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in all the world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

¹⁶So from then on Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

Preparing the Passover

¹⁷On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸He answered, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him that the Teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will keep the Passover with My disciples at your house.’”

¹⁹So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

The Last Supper

²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining with the twelve disciples.

²¹And while they were eating, He said to them, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray Me.”

²²They were deeply grieved and began to ask Him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?”

²³Jesus answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with Me will betray Me.

²⁴The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

²⁵Then Judas, who would betray Him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”Jesus answered, “You have said it yourself.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.”

²⁷Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.

²⁸This is My blood of the covenant,which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me. For it is written:‘I will strike the Shepherd,and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

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

³³Peter said to Him, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.”

³⁴“Truly I tell you,” Jesus declared, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

³⁵Peter replied, “Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You.” And all the other disciples said the same thing.

Jesus Prays at Gethsemane

³⁶Then Jesus went with His disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He told them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

³⁷He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

³⁸Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with Me.”

³⁹Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.

⁴¹“Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

⁴²A second time He went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass unless I drink it, may Your will be done.”

⁴³And again Jesus returned and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

⁴⁴So He left them and went away once more and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵Then He returned to the disciples and said, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴⁶Rise, let us go! See, My betrayer is approaching!”

The Betrayal of Jesus

⁴⁷While Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, accompanied by a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The One I kiss is the man; arrest Him.”

⁴⁹Going directly to Jesus, he said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.

⁵⁰“Friend,” Jesus replied, “do what you came for.”Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested Him.

⁵¹At this, one of Jesus’ companions drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

⁵²“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

⁵³Are you not aware that I can call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

⁵⁴But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would an outlaw? Every day I sat teaching in the temple courts,and you did not arrest Me.

⁵⁶But this has all happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.”Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.

Jesus before the Sanhedrin

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus led Him away to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders had gathered.

⁵⁸But Peter followed Him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. And he went in and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrinwere seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

⁶⁰But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.Finally two came forward

⁶¹and declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²So the high priest stood up and asked Him, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?”

⁶³But Jesus remained silent.Then the high priest said to Him, “I charge You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴“You have said it yourself,” Jesus answered. “But I say to all of you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Powerand coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.

⁶⁶What do you think?”“He deserves to die,” they answered.

⁶⁷Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him

⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who hit You?”

Peter Denies Jesus

⁶⁹Meanwhile, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him. “You also were with Jesus the Galilean,” she said.

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all: “I do not know what you are talking about.”

⁷¹When Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man!”

⁷³After a little while, those standing nearby came up to Peter. “Surely you are one of them,” they said, “for your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴At that he began to curse and swear to them, “I do not know the man!”And immediately a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵Then Peter remembered the word that Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind

¹Now as Jesus was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth,

²and His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.

⁴While it is daytime, we must dothe works of Him who sent Me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶When Jesus had said this, He spit on the ground, made some mud, and applied it to the man’s eyes.

⁷Then He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸At this, his neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging began to ask, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some claimed that he was, but others said, “No, he just looks like him.”But the man kept saying, “I am the one.”

¹⁰“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹He answered, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and anointed my eyes, and He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight.”

¹²“Where is He?” they asked.“I do not know,” he answered.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.

¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.

¹⁵So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.The man answered, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see.”

¹⁶Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.”But others said, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?”And there was division among them.

¹⁷So once again they asked the man who had been blind, “What do you say about Him, since it was your eyes He opened?”“He is a prophet,” the man replied.

¹⁸The Jews still did not believe that the man had been blind and had received his sight until they summoned his parents

¹⁹and asked, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? So how is it that he can now see?”

²⁰His parents answered, “We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind.

²¹But how he can now see or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.”

²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

²³That was why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

²⁴So a second time they called for the man who had been blind and said, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “Whether He is a sinner I do not know. There is one thing I do know: I was blind, but now I see!”

²⁶“What did He do to you?” they asked. “How did He open your eyes?”

²⁷He replied, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

²⁸Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses.

²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.”

³⁰“That is remarkable indeed!” the man said. “You do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes.

³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.

³²Never before has anyone heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.

³³If this man were not from God, He could do no such thing.”

³⁴They replied, “You were born in utter sin, and you are instructing us?” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, He found the man and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶“Who is He, Sir?” he replied. “Tell me so that I may believe in Him.”

³⁷“You have already seen Him,” Jesus answered. “He is the One speaking with you.”

³⁸“Lord, I believe,” he said. And he worshiped Jesus.

³⁹Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this, and they asked Him, “Are we blind too?”

⁴¹“If you were blind,” Jesus replied, “you would not be guilty of sin. But since you claim you can see, your guilt remains.”

I Will Open My Mouth in Parables

¹Give ear, O my people, to my instruction;listen to the words of my mouth.

²I will open my mouth in parables;I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

³that we have heard and knownand our fathers have relayed to us.

⁴We will not hide them from their childrenbut will declare to the next generationthe praises of the LORD and His mightand the wonders He has performed.

⁵For He established a testimony in Jacoband appointed a law in Israel,which He commanded our fathersto teach to their children,

⁶that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children

⁷that they should put their confidence in God,not forgetting His works,but keeping His commandments.

⁸Then they will not be like their fathers,a stubborn and rebellious generation,whose heart was not loyal,whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁹The archers of Ephraimturned back on the day of battle.

¹⁰They failed to keep God’s covenantand refused to live by His law.

¹¹They forgot what He had done,the wonders He had shown them.

¹²He worked wonders before their fathersin the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

¹³He split the sea and brought them through;He set the waters upright like a wall.

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by dayand with a light of fire all night.

¹⁵He split the rocks in the wildernessand gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

¹⁶He brought streams from the stoneand made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But they continued to sin against Him,rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

¹⁸They willfully tested Godby demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹They spoke against God, saying,“Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness?

²⁰When He struck the rock, water gushed outand torrents raged.But can He also give breador supply His people with meat?”

²¹Therefore the LORD heardand was filled with wrath;so a fire was kindled against Jacob,and His anger flared against Israel,

²²because they did not believe Godor rely on His salvation.

²³Yet He commanded the clouds aboveand opened the doors of the heavens.

²⁴He rained down manna for them to eat;He gave them grain from heaven.

²⁵Man ate the bread of angels;He sent them food in abundance.

²⁶He stirred the east wind from the heavensand drove the south wind by His might.

²⁷He rained meat on them like dust,and winged birds like the sand of the sea.

²⁸He felled them in the midst of their camp,all around their dwellings.

²⁹So they ate and were well filled,for He gave them what they craved.

³⁰Yet before they had filled their desire,with the food still in their mouths,

³¹God’s anger flared against them,and He put to death their strongestand subdued the young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

³³So He ended their days in futility,and their years in sudden terror.

³⁴When He slew them, they would seek Him;they repented and searched for God.

³⁵And they remembered that God was their Rock,that God Most Highwas their Redeemer.

³⁶But they deceived Him with their mouths,and lied to Him with their tongues.

³⁷Their hearts were disloyal to Him,and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

³⁸And yet He was compassionate;He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.He often restrained His angerand did not unleash His full wrath.

³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh,a passing breeze that does not return.

⁴⁰How often they disobeyed Him in the wildernessand grieved Him in the desert!

⁴¹Again and again they tested Godand provoked the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,

⁴³when He performed His signs in Egyptand His wonders in the fields of Zoan.

⁴⁴He turned their rivers to blood,and from their streams they could not drink.

⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies that devoured them,and frogs that devastated them.

⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper,the fruit of their labor to the locust.

⁴⁷He killed their vines with hailstonesand their sycamore-figs with sleet.

⁴⁸He abandoned their cattle to the hailand their livestock to bolts of lightning.

⁴⁹He unleashed His fury against them,wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.

⁵⁰He cleared a path for His anger;He did not spare them from deathbut delivered their lives to the plague.

⁵¹He struck all the firstborn of Egypt,the virility in the tents of Ham.

⁵²He led out His people like sheepand guided them like a flock in the wilderness.

⁵³He led them safely, so they did not fear,but the sea engulfed their enemies.

⁵⁴He brought them to His holy land,to the mountain His right hand had acquired.

⁵⁵He drove out nations before themand apportioned their inheritance;He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶But they tested and disobeyed God Most High,for they did not keep His decrees.

⁵⁷They turned back and were faithless like their fathers,twisted like a faulty bow.

⁵⁸They enraged Him with their high placesand provoked His jealousy with their idols.

⁵⁹On hearing it, God was furiousand rejected Israel completely.

⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,the tent He had pitched among men.

⁶¹He delivered His strength to captivity,and His splendor to the hand of the adversary.

⁶²He surrendered His people to the swordbecause He was enraged by His heritage.

⁶³Fire consumed His young men,and their maidens were left without wedding songs.

⁶⁴His priests fell by the sword,but their widows could not lament.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,like a mighty warrior overcome by wine.

⁶⁶He beat back His foes;He put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷He rejected the tent of Josephand refused the tribe of Ephraim.

⁶⁸But He chose the tribe of Judah,Mount Zion, which He loved.

⁶⁹He built His sanctuary like the heights,like the earth He has established forever.

⁷⁰He chose David His servantand took him from the sheepfolds;

⁷¹from tending the ewes He brought himto be shepherd of His people Jacob,of Israel His inheritance.

⁷²So David shepherded them with integrity of heartand guided them with skillful hands.