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Judas' Decision to Betray Jesus

¹ Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. ² The chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find some way to execute Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

³ Then Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. ⁴ He went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he might betray Jesus, handing him over to them. ⁵ They were delighted and arranged to give him money. ⁶ So Judas agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus when no crowd was present.

The Passover

⁷ Then the day for the feast of Unleavened Bread came, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. ⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat." ⁹ They said to him, "Where do you want us to prepare it?" ¹⁰ He said to them, "Listen, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, ¹¹ and tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' ¹² Then he will show you a large furnished room upstairs. Make preparations there." ¹³ So they went and found things just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

The Lord's Supper

¹⁴ Now when the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table and the apostles joined him. ¹⁵ And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." ¹⁷ Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves. ¹⁸ For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." ¹⁹ Then he took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." ²⁰ And in the same way he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.

A Final Discourse

²¹ "But look, the hand of the one who betrays me is with me on the table. ²² For the Son of Man is to go just as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!" ²³ So they began to question one another as to which of them it could possibly be who would do this.

²⁴ A dispute also started among them over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. ²⁵ So Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called ‘benefactors.' ²⁶ Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves. ²⁷ For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸ "You are the ones who have remained with me in my trials. ²⁹ Thus I grant to you a kingdom, just as my Father granted to me, ³⁰ that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹ "Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat, ³² but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." ³³ But Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!" ³⁴ Jesus replied, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me."

³⁵ Then Jesus said to them, "When I sent you out with no money bag, or traveler's bag, or sandals, you didn't lack anything, did you?" They replied, "Nothing." ³⁶ He said to them, "But now, the one who has a money bag must take it, and likewise a traveler's bag too. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. ³⁷ For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted with the transgressors.' For what is written about me is being fulfilled." ³⁸ So they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." Then he told them, "It is enough."

On the Mount of Olives

³⁹ Then Jesus went out and made his way, as he customarily did, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. ⁴⁰ When he came to the place, he said to them, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." ⁴¹ He went away from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, ⁴² "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Yet not my will but yours be done." [⁴³ Then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And in his anguish he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.] ⁴⁵ When he got up from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, exhausted from grief. ⁴⁶ So he said to them, "Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation!"

Betrayal and Arrest

⁴⁷ While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd appeared, and the man named Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He walked up to Jesus to kiss him. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said to him, "Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?" ⁴⁹ When those who were around him saw what was about to happen, they said, "Lord, should we use our swords?" ⁵⁰ Then one of them struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his right ear. ⁵¹ But Jesus said, "Enough of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him. ⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders who had come out to get him, "Have you come out with swords and clubs like you would against an outlaw? ⁵³ Day after day when I was with you in the temple courts, you did not arrest me. But this is your hour, and that of the power of darkness!"

Jesus' Condemnation and Peter's Denials

⁵⁴ Then they arrested Jesus, led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter was following at a distance. ⁵⁵ When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. ⁵⁶ Then a slave girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, "This man was with him too!" ⁵⁷ But Peter denied it: "Woman, I don't know him!" ⁵⁸ Then a little later someone else saw him and said, "You are one of them too." But Peter said, "Man, I am not!" ⁵⁹ And after about an hour still another insisted, "Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean." ⁶⁰ But Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" At that moment, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. ⁶¹ Then the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, "Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times." ⁶² And he went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³ Now the men who were holding Jesus under guard began to mock him and beat him. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and asked him repeatedly, "Prophesy! Who hit you?" ⁶⁵ They also said many other things against him, reviling him.

⁶⁶ When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law. Then they led Jesus away to their council ⁶⁷ and said, "If you are the Christ, tell us." But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe, ⁶⁸ and if I ask you, you will not answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God." ⁷⁰ So they all said, "Are you the Son of God, then?" He answered them, "You say that I am." ⁷¹ Then they said, "Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!"