After Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron ravine to a place where there was a garden, and he and his disciples went in.
2 Now Judas, the one who was handing him over, also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came there with a company of soldiers and some guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.[1]
4 Jesus, knowing everything that was about to happen to him, stepped forward and said to them, “Who are you looking for?”
5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
He said to them, “I am he.” (Judas, the one handing him over, was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
7 So he asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”
And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you’re looking for me, let these men go.” 9 This happened so that the word he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost a single one of those you gave me.”
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. 11 Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
12 So the company of soldiers, their commander, and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and tied him up. 13 They led him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year.[2] 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better for one man to die for the people.
15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. That other disciple was known to the high priest, so he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard. 16 But Peter stood outside by the gate. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the woman at the gate and brought Peter in.
17 The servant girl at the gate said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?”
He said, “I am not.”
18 The slaves and guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made because it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was standing with them, warming himself too.
19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. 20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all the Jews gather. I said nothing in secret. 21 Why are you questioning me? Ask those who heard what I said to them. Look, they know what I said.”
22 When he said this, one of the guards standing there slapped Jesus and said, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If I said something wrong, testify to what was wrong. But if I spoke rightly, why do you hit me?”
24 Then Annas sent him, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.
25 Meanwhile, Simon Peter was standing there warming himself. So they said to him, “You’re not one of his disciples too, are you?”
He denied it and said, “I am not.”
26 One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” 27 Peter denied it again, and right then a rooster crowed.
28 Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so they wouldn’t become ritually unclean and could still eat the Passover meal.[3] 29 So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge are you bringing against this man?”
30 They answered him, “If this man weren’t doing evil, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”
31 Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
The Jews said to him, “We’re not permitted to put anyone to death.”[4] 32 This happened so that the word Jesus had spoken would be fulfilled, indicating the kind of death he was about to die.
33 Pilate went back into the headquarters, called for Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”
37 So Pilate said to him, “So you are a king, then?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
After saying this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no grounds for a charge against him. 39 But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?”
40 They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a bandit.[5]
Notes
Note 1. The Greek word here, “speira,” is the term for a Roman cohort — a full one numbered roughly 480 men in six centuries. Whether John means the full unit or a detachment, they arrive with lanterns, torches, and weapons. ↩
Note 2. Annas had been high priest years earlier (appointed around AD 6, deposed by the Romans about AD 15), yet he still carried enormous weight. Josephus reports that he “had five sons who had all performed the office of a high priest to God” — something, he adds, that had never happened to any other high priest — and John names Caiaphas as his son-in-law. ↩
Note 3. In John the Passover meal is still to come at this point, which puts John’s timeline a step ahead of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where the Last Supper itself is the Passover meal, a difference readers have long debated. ↩
Note 4. After Judea became a Roman province in AD 6, the authority to carry out an execution rested with the Roman governor, not the local council. ↩
Note 5. The Greek “lēstēs” means more than a common thief; in first-century Judea it often described armed insurgents and rebels against Roman rule. ↩