When Jesus had finished all these words, he said to his disciples, 2 “You know that in two days the Passover comes, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas,[1] 4 and they plotted together to seize Jesus by trickery and kill him. 5 But they said, “Not during the feast, so there won’t be a riot among the people.”
6 Now while Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came up to him holding an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at the table.[2] 8 When the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? 9 This could have been sold for a lot and given to the poor.”
10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you giving this woman a hard time? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 11 You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 By pouring this perfume on my body, she has prepared me for burial. 13 Amen, I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
14 Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I hand him over to you?” They weighed out thirty silver coins for him.[3] 16 And from that moment he looked for a good chance to hand him over.
17 On the first day of the Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to get things ready for you to eat the Passover?”
18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says: My time is near. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 The disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
20 When evening came, he was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21 And as they were eating, he said, “Amen, I tell you, one of you will hand me over.”
22 Deeply upset, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely not I, Lord?”
23 He answered, “The one who dipped his hand with me in the bowl — that’s the one who will hand me over. 24 The Son of Man goes just as it is written about him, but how terrible for that man by whom the Son of Man is handed over. It would have been better for that man if he had never been born.”
25 Then Judas, the one who was handing him over, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”
Jesus said to him, “You have said it.”
26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat. This is my body.”
27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is my blood of the binding promise, poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.[4] 29 I tell you, I will not drink again from this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
30 And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away because of me this night, for it is written:
‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
32 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
33 Peter answered him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”
34 Jesus said to him, “Amen, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
35 Peter said to him, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the disciples said the same.
36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”[5] 37 And taking Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, he began to be upset and in deep distress. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is crushed, to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
39 Going a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I want, but as you want.”
40 He came back to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “So, you couldn’t keep watch with me for one hour? 41 Keep watch and pray so that you won’t enter into testing. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
42 Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, let your will be done.”
43 And he came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 He left them and went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same words once more.
45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come near, and the Son of Man is being handed over into the hands of sinners. 46 Get up, let’s go. Look, the one handing me over is near.”
47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, and with him a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now the one handing him over had given them a sign, saying, “The one I kiss — that’s him. Seize him.” 49 And right away he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came for.”
Then they stepped forward, laid hands on Jesus, and seized him. 51 And look — one of those with Jesus reached out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his ear.
52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place. All who take up the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?[6] 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?”
55 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as if I were a bandit? Every day I sat in the temple teaching, and you didn’t seize me. 56 But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.”
Then all the disciples left him and ran.
57 Those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. 58 Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest. He went inside and sat down with the guards to see how it would end.
59 The chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so they could put him to death, 60 but they found none, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward 61 and said, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”
62 The high priest stood up and said to him, “Do you answer nothing? What is it these men are testifying against you?” 63 But Jesus kept silent.
The high priest said to him, “I put you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Anointed One, the Son of God.”
64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”[7]
65 Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. 66 What do you think?”
They answered, “He deserves death.”
67 Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists. Others slapped him 68 and said, “Prophesy to us, Anointed One — who hit you?”
69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came up to him and said, “You were with Jesus the Galilean too.”
70 But he denied it in front of everyone: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
71 When he went out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72 And again he denied it with an oath: “I don’t know the man.”
73 A little later, the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “You really are one of them — your accent gives you away.”
74 Then he began to curse and swear: “I don’t know the man!”
And right away a rooster crowed. 75 Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and sobbed bitterly.
Notes
Note 1. Joseph Caiaphas held the high priesthood for an unusually long stretch, roughly 18 to 36 AD, which meant his tenure overlapped almost entirely with that of the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate. ↩
Note 2. The Greek calls the perfume “costly” (barytimou), and John’s version prices a comparable jar at 300 denarii — close to a year’s pay for a day laborer. ↩
Note 3. The coins were most likely Tyrian shekels, the currency accepted for temple payments. A Tyrian shekel was worth about four denarii, and a denarius was a day’s wage, so thirty of them came to roughly four months’ pay for an ordinary laborer. The figure also echoes Zechariah 11:12, where thirty pieces of silver are the price paid to a rejected shepherd. ↩
Note 4. The Greek is diathēkē. The phrase quotes Exodus 24:8, where Moses throws blood on the people and says, “This is the blood of the agreement the LORD has made with you.” Greek had a word for a bargain struck between equals — synthēkē — and the translators of the Hebrew scriptures pointedly did not use it. A diathēkē is one-sided, closer to a will: its terms are set by the one who makes it. ↩
Note 5. The name comes from the Hebrew for “oil press” (gat shemanim), fitting for a spot at the foot of the Mount of Olives, whose slopes were covered in olive groves. ↩
Note 6. A Roman legion at full strength numbered somewhere between five and six thousand men, so “more than twelve legions” would be an army of over sixty thousand. ↩
Note 7. Two lines of scripture stand together here: sitting “at the right hand” from Psalm 110:1, and the figure “coming on the clouds of heaven” from Daniel 7:13, where one “like a son of man” is given everlasting dominion. ↩