Matthew 26-28

Matthew 26

¹And when Jesus had come to the end of all these words, he said to his disciples,

²After two days is the Passover, and the Son of man will be given up to the death of the cross.

³Then the chief priests and the rulers of the people came together in the house of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas.

⁴And they made designs together to take Jesus by some trick, and put him to death.

⁵But they said, Not while the feast is going on, for fear of trouble among the people.

⁶Now when Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

⁷There came to him a woman having a bottle of perfume of great price, and she put the perfume on his head when he was seated at table.

⁸But when the disciples saw it they were angry, saying, To what purpose is this waste?

⁹For we might have got much money for this and given it to the poor.

¹⁰But Jesus, seeing it, said to them, Why are you troubling the woman? she has done a kind act to me.

¹¹For the poor you have ever with you, but me you have not for ever.

¹²For in putting this perfume on my body, she did it to make me ready for my last resting-place.

¹³Truly I say to you, Wherever this good news goes out in all the world, what this woman has done will be talked of in memory of her.

¹⁴Then one of the twelve, who was named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said,

¹⁵What will you give me, if I give him up to you? And the price was fixed at thirty bits of silver.

¹⁶And from that time he was watching for a chance to give him into their hands.

¹⁷Now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Where are we to make ready for you to take the Passover meal?

¹⁸And he said to them, Go into the town to such a man, and say to him, The Master says, My time is near: I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.

¹⁹And the disciples did as Jesus had said to them; and they made ready the Passover.

²⁰Now when evening was come, he was seated at table with the twelve disciples;

²¹And while they were taking food, he said, Truly I say to you that one of you will be false to me.

²²And they were very said, and said to him, one by one, Is it I, Lord?

²³And he made answer and said, He who puts his hand into the plate with me, the same will be false to me.

²⁴The Son of man goes, even as the Writings say of him: but a curse is on that man through whom the Son of man is given up; it would have been well for that man if he had never come into the world.

²⁵And Judas, who was false to him, made answer and said, Is it I, Master? He says to him, Yes.

²⁶And when they were taking food, Jesus took bread and, after blessing it, he gave the broken bread to the disciples and said, Take it; this is my body.

²⁷And he took a cup and, having given praise, he gave it to them, saying,

²⁸Take of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the testament, which is given for men for the forgiveness of sins.

²⁹But I say to you that from now I will not take of this fruit of the vine, till that day when I take it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

³⁰And after a song of praise to God, they went out to the Mountain of Olives.

³¹Then said Jesus to them, All of you will be turned away from me this night: for it is said in the Writings, I will put to death the keeper of the sheep, and the sheep of the flock will be put to flight.

³²But after I am come back from the dead, I will go before you into Galilee.

³³But Peter made answer and said to him, Though all may be turned away from you, I will never be turned away.

³⁴Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you that this night, before the hour of the cock's cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me.

³⁵Peter says to him, Even if I am put to death with you, I will not be false to you. So said all the disciples.

³⁶Then comes Jesus with them to a place named Gethsemane, and says to his disciples, Be seated here, while I go over there for prayer.

³⁷And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and became sad and very troubled.

³⁸Then says he to them, My soul is very sad, even to death: keep watch with me here.

³⁹And he went forward a little, and falling down on his face in prayer, he said, O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup go from me; but let not my pleasure, but yours be done.

⁴⁰And he comes to the disciples, and sees that they are sleeping, and says to Peter, What, were you not able to keep watch with me one hour?

⁴¹Keep watch with prayer, so that you may not be put to the test: the spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is feeble.

⁴²Again, a second time he went away, and said in prayer, O my Father, if this may not go from me without my taking it, let your pleasure be done.

⁴³And he came again and saw them sleeping, for their eyes were tired.

⁴⁴And he went away from them again, and a third time said the same prayer.

⁴⁵Then he comes to the disciples; and says to them, Go on sleeping now, and take your rest: for the hour is come, and the Son of man is given into the hands of evil men.

⁴⁶Up, let us be going: see, he who gives me up is near.

⁴⁷And while he was still talking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a band armed with swords and sticks, from the chief priests and those in authority over the people.

⁴⁸Now the false one had given them a sign saying, The one to whom I give a kiss, that is he: take him.

⁴⁹And straight away he came to Jesus and said, Master! and gave him a kiss.

⁵⁰And Jesus said to him, Friend, do that for which you have come. Then they came and put hands on Jesus, and took him.

⁵¹And one of those who were with Jesus put out his hand, and took out his sword and gave the servant of the high priest a blow, cutting off his ear.

⁵²Then says Jesus to him, Put up your sword again into its place: for all those who take the sword will come to death by the sword.

⁵³Does it not seem possible to you that if I make request to my Father he will even now send me an army of angels?

⁵⁴But how then would the Writings come true, which say that so it has to be?

⁵⁵In that hour Jesus said to the people, Have you come out as against a thief with swords and sticks to take me? I was teaching every day in the Temple and you took me not.

⁵⁶But all this has taken place so that the writings of the prophets might come true. Then all his disciples went from him in flight.

⁵⁷And those who had made Jesus prisoner took him away to the house of Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and those in authority over the people had come together.

⁵⁸But Peter went after him at a distance, to the house of the high priest, and went in and took his seat with the servants, to see the end.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin were looking for false witness against Jesus, so that they might put him to death;

⁶⁰And they were not able to get it, though a number of false witnesses came.

⁶¹But later there came two who said, This man said, I am able to give the Temple of God to destruction, and to put it up again in three days.

⁶²And the high priest got up and said to him, Have you no answer? what is it which these say against you?

⁶³But Jesus said not a word. And the high priest said to him, I put you on oath, by the living God, that you will say to us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.

⁶⁴Jesus says to him, You say so: but I say to you, From now you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.

⁶⁵Then the high priest, violently parting his robes, said, He has said evil against God: what more need have we of witnesses? for now his words against God have come to your ears:

⁶⁶What is your opinion? They made answer and said, It is right for him to be put to death.

⁶⁷Then they put shame on him, and were cruel to him: and some gave him blows, saying,

⁶⁸Be a prophet, O Christ, and say who gave you a blow!

⁶⁹Now Peter was seated in the open square outside the house: and a servant-girl came to him, saying, You were with Jesus the Galilaean.

⁷⁰But he said before them all that it was false, saying, I have no knowledge of what you say.

⁷¹And when he had gone out into the doorway, another saw him and says to those who were there, This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.

⁷²And again he said with an oath, I have no knowledge of the man.

⁷³And after a little time those who were near came and said to Peter, Truly you are one of them; because your talk is witness against you.

⁷⁴Then with curses and oaths he said, I have no knowledge of the man. And straight away there came the cry of a cock.

⁷⁵And the word of Jesus came back to Peter, when he said, Before the hour of the cock's cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me. And he went out, weeping bitterly.

Matthew 27

¹Now when it was morning, all the chief priests and those in authority took thought together with the purpose of putting Jesus to death.

²And they put cords on him and took him away, and gave him up to Pilate, the ruler.

³Then Judas, who was false to him, seeing that he was to be put to death, in his regret took back the thirty bits of silver to the chief priests and those in authority,

⁴Saying, I have done wrong in giving into your hands an upright man. But they said, What is that to us? it is your business.

⁵And he put down the silver in the Temple and went out, and put himself to death by hanging.

⁶And the chief priests took the silver and said, It is not right to put it in the Temple store for it is the price of blood.

⁷And they made a decision to get with the silver the potter's field, as a place for the dead of other countries.

⁸For this cause that field was named, The field of blood, to this day.

⁹Then came true that which was said by Jeremiah the prophet, And they took the thirty bits of silver, the price of him who was valued by the children of Israel;

¹⁰And they gave them for the potter's field, as I had word from the Lord.

¹¹And Jesus was before the ruler, who put a question to him, Are you the King of the Jews? And Jesus said to him, You say so.

¹²But when the chief priests and those in authority made statements against him, he gave no answer.

¹³Then says Pilate to him, Do you give no attention to what their witnesses say against you?

¹⁴And he gave him no answer, not even a word: so that the ruler was greatly surprised.

¹⁵Now at the feast it was the way for the ruler to let free to the people one prisoner, at their selection.

¹⁶And they had then an important prisoner, whose name was Barabbas.

¹⁷So when they came together, Pilate said to them, Whom will you have? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is named Christ?

¹⁸For he saw that for envy they had given him up.

¹⁹And while he was on the judge's seat, his wife sent to him, saying, Have nothing to do with that upright man, for I have had much trouble this day in a dream because of him.

²⁰Now the chief priests and those in authority got the people to make request for Barabbas, and for Jesus to be put to death.

²¹But the ruler made answer and said to them, Which of the two is it your pleasure that I let go free? And they said, Barabbas.

²²Pilate says to them, What, then, am I to do with Jesus, who is named Christ? They all say, Let him be put to death on the cross.

²³And he said, Why, what evil has he done? But they gave loud cries, saying, To the cross with him!

²⁴So when Pilate saw that he was able to do nothing, but that trouble was working up, he took water and, washing his hands before the people, said, The blood of this upright man is not on my hands: you are responsible.

²⁵And all the people made answer and said, Let his blood be on us, and on our children.

²⁶Then he let Barabbas go free: but after having Jesus whipped, he gave him up to be put to death on the cross.

²⁷Then the ruler's armed men took Jesus into the open square, and got all their band together.

²⁸And they took off his clothing, and put on him a red robe.

²⁹And they made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and put a rod in his right hand, and they went down on their knees before him, and made sport of him, saying, Long life to the King of the Jews.

³⁰And they put shame on him, and gave him blows on the head with the rod.

³¹And when they had made sport of him, they took the robe off him, and put his clothing on him, and took him away to put him on the cross.

³²And while they were coming out, they saw a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they made him go with them, so that he might take up his cross.

³³And when they came to the place named Golgotha, that is to say, Dead Man's Head,

³⁴They gave him wine mixed with bitter drink: and after tasting it, he took no more.

³⁵And when they had put him on the cross, they made division of his clothing among them by the decision of chance.

³⁶And they were seated there watching him.

³⁷And they put up over his head the statement of his crime in writing, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

³⁸Then two thieves were put on crosses with him, one on the right and one on the left.

³⁹And those who went by said bitter words to him, shaking their heads and saying,

⁴⁰You who would give the Temple to destruction and put it up again in three days, get yourself free: if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.

⁴¹In the same way, the chief priests, making sport of him, with the scribes and those in authority, said,

⁴²A saviour of others, he has no salvation for himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will have faith in him.

⁴³He put his faith in God; let God be his saviour now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God.

⁴⁴And the thieves who were on the crosses said evil words to him.

⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour it was dark over all the land till the ninth hour.

⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus gave a loud cry, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?

⁴⁷And some of those who were near by, hearing it, said, This man is crying to Elijah.

⁴⁸And straight away one of them went quickly, and took a sponge, and made it full of bitter wine, and put it on a rod and gave him drink.

⁴⁹And the rest said, Let him be; let us see if Elijah will come to his help.

⁵⁰And Jesus gave another loud cry, and gave up his spirit.

⁵¹And the curtain of the Temple was parted in two from end to end; and there was an earth-shock; and the rocks were broken;

⁵²And the resting-places of the dead came open; and the bodies of a number of sleeping saints came to life;

⁵³And coming out of their resting-places, after he had come again from the dead, they went into the holy town and were seen by a number of people.

⁵⁴Now the captain and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earth-shock and the things which were done, were in great fear and said, Truly this was a son of God.

⁵⁵And a number of women were there, watching from a distance, who had come with Jesus from Galilee, waiting on his needs.

⁵⁶Among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷And in the evening, there came a man of wealth from Arimathaea, Joseph by name, who was a disciple of Jesus:

⁵⁸This man went in to Pilate, and made a request for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate gave orders for it to be given to him.

⁵⁹And Joseph took the body, folding it in clean linen,

⁶⁰And put it in the resting-place which had been cut out of the rock for himself; and after rolling a great stone to the door of it he went away.

⁶¹And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, seated by the place of the dead.

⁶²Now on the day after the getting ready of the Passover, the chief priests and Pharisees came together to Pilate,

⁶³Saying, Sir, we have in mind how that false man said, while he was still living, After three days I will come again from the dead.

⁶⁴Give orders, then, that the place where his body is may be made safe till the third day, for fear that his disciples come and take him away secretly and say to the people, He has come back from the dead: and the last error will be worse than the first.

⁶⁵Pilate said to them, You have watchmen; go and make it as safe as you are able.

⁶⁶So they went, and made safe the place where his body was, putting a stamp on the stone, and the watchmen were with them.

Matthew 28

¹Now late on the Sabbath, when the dawn of the first day of the week was near, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the place where his body was.

²And there was a great earth-shock; for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, rolling back the stone, took his seat on it.

³His form was shining like the light, and his clothing was white as snow:

⁴And for fear of him the watchmen were shaking, and became as dead men.

⁵And the angel said to the women, Have no fear: for I see that you are searching for Jesus, who was put to death on the cross.

⁶He is not here, for he has come to life again, even as he said. Come, see the Lord's resting-place.

⁷And go quickly and give his disciples the news that he has come back from the dead, and is going before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as I have said to you.

⁸And they went away quickly, with fear and great joy, to give his disciples the news.

⁹And on the way, Jesus came to them, saying, Be glad. And they came and put their hands on his feet, and gave him worship.

¹⁰Then said Jesus to them, Have no fear: go and give word to my brothers to go into Galilee, and there they will see me.

¹¹Now, while they were going, some of the watchmen came into the town and gave news to the chief priests of all the things which had taken place.

¹²And when they had come together with those in authority, and had made their decision, they gave much money to the watchmen, saying,

¹³Say, His disciples came by night and took him away secretly while we were sleeping.

¹⁴And if this comes to the ruler's ears, we will see that he does not make you responsible.

¹⁵So they took the money, and did as they had been ordered: and this account has been current among the Jews till the present time.

¹⁶But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had given them orders to go.

¹⁷And when they saw him they gave him worship: but some were in doubt.

¹⁸And Jesus came to them and said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

¹⁹Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:

²⁰Teaching them to keep all the rules which I have given you: and see, I am ever with you, even to the end of the world.