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¹ AFTER two days, the passover of un leavened bread was to come; and the high priests and the scribes were seeking how to seize him by craft and kill him.² And they said, Not during the feast, for it may cause a riot among the people.³ When he was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, while he reclined, there came a woman who had with her an alabaster vessel of perfume of pure nard, of good quality and very expensive; and she opened it, and poured it upon the head of Jesus.⁴ But there were some men of the disciples who were displeased within themselves, and said, Why was this perfume wasted?⁵ For it could have been sold for more than three hundred pennies and given to the poor. So they annoyed her.⁶ Jesus said, Leave her alone; why do you trouble her? She has done a good work to me.⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and when you wish, you can do good to them; but I am not always with you.⁸ But this one has done it with what she had; she anointed my body in advance as for the burial.⁹ And truly I say to you, Wherever this my gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.¹⁰ Then Judas of Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the high priests, to deliver Jesus to them.¹¹ When they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money. So he sought an opportunity to deliver him.

¹² On the first day of unleavened bread, on which the Jews sacrifice the passover, his disciples said to him, Where do you wish that we go and prepare the passover for you to eat?¹³ And he sent two of his disciples, and said to them, Go to the city, and behold you will meet a man carrying a vessel of water; follow him.¹⁴ And wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, Our master says, Where is the guestchamber, where I may eat the passover with my disciples?¹⁵ And he will show you a large upper room furnished and prepared; there make ready for us.¹⁶ And his disciples went out and came to the city, and they found just as he had told them; and they prepared the passover.¹⁷ And when it was evening, he came with his twelve.¹⁸ And when they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you, One of you who eats with me, he will betray me.¹⁹ They began to feel troubled, and said to him one by one, Why, is it I?²⁰ But he said to them, One of the twelve who dips with me in the dish.²¹ The Son of man will go, as it is written of him; but woe to the man by whose hand the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been far better for that man never to have been born.²² While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and he broke it, and gave it to them, and he said to them, Take it; this is my body.²³ And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and he blessed it and gave it to them, and they all drank of it.²⁴ And he said to them, This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for the sake of many.²⁵ Truly I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine, until that day in which I drink it new in the kingdom of God.²⁶ And they offered praise, and went out to the Mount of Olives.²⁷ Then Jesus said to them, All of you will deny me this night; for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and his sheep will scatter.²⁸ But when I am risen, I will be in Galilee before you.²⁹ Peter said to him, Even if all of them should deny you, but not I.³⁰ Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, that you, today, in this night, before the cock crows twice, will deny me three times.³¹ But he kept telling him still more, Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you, O my Lord. All the disciples said also, like him.

³² And they came to a place, which is called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, Sit down here, while I pray.³³ And he took with him Peter and James and John, and he began to be sorrowful and oppressed.³⁴ And he said to them, My soul is sorrowful even to death; wait for me and keep awake.³⁵ And he went a little aside, and fell on the ground, and prayed, that if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.³⁶ And he said, Abba, Ave, O Father, my Father, you can do everything; make this cup pass away from me; but not according to my will, but yours.³⁷ And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not keep awake even for one hour?³⁸ Awake and pray, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing and ready, but the body is weak.³⁹ He went away again and prayed, and he said the same word.⁴⁰ And he returned again, and came and found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy; and they did not know what to say to him.⁴¹ Then he came the third time, and said to them, From now on sleep and get rest; the end has arrived and the hour has come; and behold, the Son of man will be delivered into the hands of sinners.⁴² Arise, let us go; behold, he who is to deliver me is near.

⁴³ While he was speaking, Judas of Iscariot, one of the twelve, came and many other people, with swords and staves, from the high priests and the scribes and the elders.⁴⁴ And the traitor who was to do the delivering gave them a sign, and he said, He whom I kiss, it is he; seize him carefully, and take him away.⁴⁵ And immediately he drew near and said to him, My teacher, my teacher; and he kissed him.⁴⁶ And they laid hands on him and arrested him.⁴⁷ But one of those who stood by drew a sword, and struck it at the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.⁴⁸ And Jesus answered and said to them, Have you come out against me as against a bandit, with swords and staves to arrest me?⁴⁹ I was with you every day teaching in the temple, and you did not arrest me; but this has happened so that the scriptures might be fulfilled.⁵⁰ Then his disciples left him and fled.⁵¹ And a young man was following him, naked, with a loin cloth around him; and they seized him.⁵² But he left the loin cloth, and fled naked.

⁵³ And they took Jesus to Caiaphas the high priest; and there gathered to him all the high priests and the scribes and the elders.⁵⁴ But Simon followed him afar off, up to the courtyard of the high priest; and he sat with the servants, warming himself before the fire.⁵⁵ The high priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death; but they could not find it.⁵⁶ For even though many testified against him, their testimonies were not worthy.⁵⁷ Then some men, who were false witnesses, stood up against him, and said,⁵⁸ We heard him say, I will tear down this temple which is made with hands, and in three days I will build another which is not made with hands.⁵⁹ But even this testimony was not worthy.⁶⁰ Then the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, and said, Do you not answer? What do these testify against you?⁶¹ But Jesus was silent, and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, and said, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?⁶² Jesus said to him, I am; and you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming upon the clouds of the sky.⁶³ Then the high priest tore his robe, and said, Why therefore do we need witnesses?⁶⁴ Behold, you have heard blasphemy from his own mouth; what do you think? And they all decided that he is guilty of death.⁶⁵ Then some of the men began to spit in his face, and to cover his face, and to strike him on his head, saying, Prophesy; and the soldiers smote him on his cheeks.

⁶⁶ And when Simon was below in the courtyard, there came a young maidservant of the high priest;⁶⁷ And she saw him warming himself, and looked at him, and said to him, You also were with Jesus the Nazarene.⁶⁸ But he denied it and said, I do not understand what you are saying. Then he went out to the porch, and the cock crowed.⁶⁹ And the same young maid saw him, and began to say to those who stood by, This one also is one of them.⁷⁰ But he denied it again. And a little later, those who stood by said to Peter, Truly you are one of them, for you also are a Galilean, and even your speech is like theirs.⁷¹ And he began to curse and to swear, I do not know this man of whom you speak.⁷² At that very hour the cock crowed the second time. And Simon remembered the word that Jesus said to him, Before the cock crows twice you will deny me thrice. And then he began to weep. Jesus before Caiaphas.