Matthew Chapter 26    

¹And it came to pass, when Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples,
  ²“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
 

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the People^a were gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest, the one called Caiaphas,
  ⁴and they plotted together in order to arrest Jesus in a crafty way, and then kill him.
  ⁵But they were saying, “Not during the feast, otherwise a riot would occur among the People.”
 

⁶Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the Leper^{b
  7}a woman came to him with an alabaster flask of very costly perfume, and she poured it on his head as he was reclining to eat.
  ⁸But when they saw this, the disciples became angry, saying, “Why this waste?
  ⁹For it would have been possible to sell this for a high price, and the money given to the poor.”
  ¹⁰But Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why are you giving the woman trouble? For she has done a good work for me.
  ¹¹For you will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.
  ¹²For this woman poured this perfume on my body—she did it to prepare me for burial.
  ¹³Truly I say to you, wherever this good news is preached in the whole world, what this woman did will also be told in memory of her.”
 

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, having gone to the chief priests,
  ¹⁵said, “What are you willing to give me if I will hand him over to you?” And they weighed out to him 30 pieces of silver.
  ¹⁶And from then on he began seeking an opportunity to betray him.
 

¹⁷Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
  ¹⁸And he said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, my time is near. I am to keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’”
  ¹⁹And the disciples did as Jesus directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
 

²⁰Now when evening had come, he was reclining to eat with the Twelve,
  ²¹and as they were eating, he said, “Truly I say to you, that one of you will betray me.”
  ²²And they were deeply grieved, and each one began to say to him, “Surely I am not the one, Lord?”
  ²³And he answered and said, “The one who dipped his hand in the bowl with me, this one will betray me.
  ²⁴The Son of Man will go to die just as it is written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
  ²⁵And Judas, the one betraying him, answered and said, “Surely I am not the one, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You yourself have said it.”
 

²⁶And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat. This is my body.”
  ²⁷And having taken a cup, and having given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.
  ²⁸For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
  ²⁹And I say to you, I will absolutely not drink of this fruit of the vine again until that day when I drink new wine with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
 

³⁰And after they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
  ³¹Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight, all of you with me will desert me, for it is written, I will strike down the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.^{c
  32}But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
  ³³But Peter answered and said to him, “Even if everyone with you deserts you, I will never desert you.”
  ³⁴Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
  ³⁵Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.” All the disciples also said the same thing.
 

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to his disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
  ³⁷And having taken Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, he began to be grieved and troubled.
  ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, almost to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.”
  ³⁹And he went a short distance away from them and fell on his face, praying and saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I want, but as you want.”
  ⁴⁰And he came to the disciples, and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, were you not strong enough to stay awake with me for one hour?
  ⁴¹Stay awake and pray so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
  ⁴²Again, a second time, having gone away, he prayed, saying, “My Father, if this is not able to pass away unless I drink it, your will be done.”
  ⁴³And again he came and found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy.
  ⁴⁴And having left them again and having gone away, he prayed a third time, saying the same words again.
 

⁴⁵Then he came to the disciples, and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look! The hour has drawn near and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
  ⁴⁶Get up, let’s go. Look! The one who is betraying me has drawn near.”
 

⁴⁷And while he was still speaking, look, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived, and with him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priest and elders of the People.
  ⁴⁸Now the one who was betraying him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss is the one. Arrest him.”
  ⁴⁹And he immediately went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi,” and kissed him.
  ⁵⁰And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do that for which you have come.” Then they came and laid their hands on Jesus and arrested him.
  ⁵¹And Look! One of those who was with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.
  ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.
  ⁵³Or do you think that I am not able to call on my Father, and even now he will send me more than 12 legions of angels?
  ⁵⁴But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way?”
  ⁵⁵In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come with swords and clubs to capture me as if I were a criminal? I sat daily in the Temple teaching, and you did not arrest me.
  ⁵⁶But all of this has come to pass to fulfill the writings of the prophets.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
 

⁵⁷The ones who had arrested Jesus led him away to the house of Caiaphas the high priest, where the experts in the law and the elders were gathered together.
  ⁵⁸But Peter was following him at a distance all the way into the courtyard of the high priest, and after going in, he sat with the servants to see the outcome.
 

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death,
  ⁶⁰but they could not find any, although many false witnesses came. But finally, two false witnesses came forward and
  ⁶¹said, “This one said, ‘I am able to destroy the Temple of God, and to build it in three days.’”
  ⁶²And the high priest stood up and said to him, “Are you not going to answer? What is it that these men testify against you?”
  ⁶³But Jesus remained silent. And the high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God, that you tell us if you are the Christ,^d the Son of God.”
  ⁶⁴Jesus said to him, “Yes, it is as you say. Moreover, I say to you all, in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”^{e
  65}Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, “Defaming talk! Why do we need any more witnesses? See! Now you have heard the defamation.
  ⁶⁶What do you think?” They answered and said, “He deserves to die!”
  ⁶⁷Then they spat in his face and beat him with their fists. And they slapped him,
  ⁶⁸saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ. Who is the one who struck you?”
 

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came up to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus of Galilee.”
  ⁷⁰But he denied it before everyone, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.”
  ⁷¹And when he had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him, and said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
  ⁷²And again he denied it, this time with an oath, saying, “I do not know the man.”
  ⁷³And after a little while those who were standing nearby came and said to Peter, “Truly, you are also one of them because your accent makes you known.”
  ⁷⁴Then he began to pronounce a curse upon himself and to swear with an oath, “I do not know the man.” And immediately a rooster crowed.
  ⁷⁵And Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside the courtyard, and cried bitterly.