1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, in two days from now the Passover will take place; the Son of Man is going to be handed over to be crucified.”

3 Then the chief priests and the elders over the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. 4 They formed a plot to have Jesus arrested by deceitful means and then killed. 5 “But not during the festival,” they kept saying, “or a riot may break out among the people.”

6 As for Jesus, while he was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him holding an alabaster flask of perfumed oil worth a lot of money, and she poured it on his head while he was reclining at the meal table.

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

10 Aware of what was going on, Jesus said to them, “Why are ᵖyou are giving this woman such a difficult time? It is a very beautiful thing that she has done for me. 11 ᵖYou have the poor with you, you see, all the time. Me, however, ᵖyou have here with you only a short while. 12 When this woman poured this fragrant oil on my body, what was her heart in doing so? To prepare me for burial. 13 Amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

14 Then one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are ᵖyou willing to pay me if I, to you, hand over Jesus?” So they set out thirty pieces of silver for him, 16 and from that time he began watching for the right moment to hand Jesus over.

17 Now on the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came up to Jesus and said, “Where would you like us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?”

18 “Go into the city to a certain man,” he said, “and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My appointed time is very near. ˢYour house is where I’d like to observe the Passover meal with my disciples.” ’ ” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had instructed them and prepared the Passover meal.

20 When it was evening, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 While they were eating, he said, “Amen, I solemnly tell ᵖyou this: One of you will betray me.”

22 Feeling deeply distressed, each one began saying to him, “Surely you don’t mean me, Lord!”

23 “My close friend who dips his bread with me into the dish,”+ Jesus answered, “he’s the one who will betray me. 24 Although the Son of Man must die just as it is written about him, woe to that man by means of whom the Son of Man is about to be betrayed. It would have been truly better for that man if he had never been born.”

25 Then Judas, the one who was about to betray him, replied, “Surely you don’t mean me, Rabbi!”

“The words have come out of ˢyour own mouth,” Jesus said to him.

26 As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and, after giving thanks, broke it. And when he had given it to the disciples, he said, “Take, eat. This is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup of wine and, after giving thanks, gave it to them. “Drink from it, all of you,” he said. 28 “This, you see, is my blood of the covenant, which is about to be poured out for the forgiveness of sins on behalf+ of ‘many.’+ 29 Now, I tell ᵖyou this: I will certainly not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that Day when this wine I drink new with you in the Kingdom of my Father.” 30 And after they had sung the second part of the Hallel Psalms, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away because of me on this night. For it is written:

33 In response Peter declared to him, “Even if everyone else falls away because of you, I will never do so!”

34 Jesus said to him, “Amen, I solemnly tell ˢyou this: On this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”

35 “Even if I must die with you,” Peter said to him, “I will never disown you!” All the other disciples, too, themselves said the same thing.

36 Then Jesus went with them to an olive grove called Gethsemane. “Sit here while I go over there and pray,” he told the disciples. 37 And having brought Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, he began to experience sorrow and anguish. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overcome with sorrow, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.” 39 And when he had gone on a little farther, he threw himself down with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, please spare me this cup of suffering! Yet not my own will, but yours be done!” 40 Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. “So,” he said to Peter, “the three of ᵖyou weren’t able to stay awake with me for even one hour? 41 ᵖYou three stay awake and keep praying for strength to resist temptation. Though the spirit is eager, the mortal nature is weak.”

42 After he had gone away a second time, he prayed, “O my Father! If it isn’t possible for this cup of suffering to pass unless I drink it, your will be done!” 43 When Jesus came back, he again found the disciples asleep, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open. 44 Leaving them, he went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing again. 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Still asleep and resting? Look! The appointed time is drawing near, and the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of sinful men. 46 Get up, let’s go. Look! My betrayer is drawing near!”

47 While he was still speaking, there came Judas, one of the Twelve! And with him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and elders in leadership over the people. 48 Now his betrayer had arranged a signal with them. “The one I greet with a kiss,” he had said, “ he is the one. Arrest him.” 49 So Judas came straight up to Jesus and said, “Shalom, Rabbi,” and kissed him.

50 “Friend,” Jesus said to him, “do what you came for.” Then the others came up and seized Jesus and arrested him.

51 Suddenly one of those who were with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword, and, striking the high priest’s slave, cut off his ear.

52 “Put ˢyour sword back in its place!” Jesus said to him. “All who take up the sword, you see, will by the sword die. 53 Don’t ˢyou know that I could call on my Father, and he would immediately station at my side an army of thousands and thousands of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that these things must happen?”

55 At that point Jesus said to the crowds, “Is it as against an insurrectionist that ᵖyou have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day it was right there in the temple courts that I sat teaching, yet ᵖyou didn’t arrest me. 56 All this, however, has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then the disciples, all of them, deserted him and fled.

57 Those who had arrested Jesus led him to the home of Caiaphas the high priest, where the Torah-experts and the elders had gathered. 58 Peter, meanwhile, continued following him at a distance all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat down among the Sanhedrin officers to see how all this was going to turn out.

59 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin kept looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could have him put to death, 60 but they couldn’t find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally, two men came forward 61 and declared, “This man said, ‘I am able to tear down the sanctuary of God and rebuild it in only three days.’”

62 So the high priest stood up and said to him, “Aren’t you going to say something in your own defense? What is this accusation these men are bringing against you?”

63 Jesus, however, remained silent.

Then the high priest said to him, “I put you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”

64 “The words have come out of ˢyour own mouth,” Jesus told him. “Yet I tell all of ᵖyou this: From this time forth you will see the Son of Man ‘sitting at the right hand’+ of the Mighty One and ‘coming on the clouds of heaven.’+”

65 The high priest, then, tore his clothes in horror and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, ᵖyou have heard his blasphemy just now. 66 Exactly what verdict do ᵖyou think he deserves?”

“He is guilty,” they replied, “and deserving of death!”

67 Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists. Some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, Messiah! Who is it that hit you?”

69 Peter, meanwhile, was sitting outside in the courtyard, when a servant girl came up to him and said, “ˢYou, too, yourself were with Jesus the Galilean!”

70 But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what ˢyou’re talking about,” he said.

71 When he went out to the entryway, another servant girl saw him and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

72 Again Peter denied it, with an oath. “I don’t know the man!” he said.

73 A little while later, those who were standing there came up and said to Peter, “You, too, are yourself definitely one of them. Yes, even your accent gives you away.”

74 Then Peter began calling down a divine curse on himself and swearing with an oath, “I don’t know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed, 75 and Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, ˢyou will disown me three times.” Then he went outside and wept bitterly.