Matthew 26

₁When Jesus finished speaking, He said to his disciples: ₂‘You know it is 2 days before Passover. God will give Me, the Son of man, to the people and they will crucify Me.’

₃The chief_priests and the teachers_of_the_Laws came together in the house of the high-priest. The name of the high-priest was Caiaphas. ₄They made plans to arrest and kill Jesus. They did not want other people to know about their plans. ₅They said: ‘We must not kill Him on Passover, because the people will get angry and they will rebel.’

₆Jesus was eating in the house of Simon who had had leprosy before. It was in the town of Bethany. ₇A woman came to Him, and she had a beautiful jar of expensive perfume. She poured the perfume onto Jesus' head. ₈When his disciples saw what she was doing, they were upset and they said: ‘Why do you waste this expensive perfume? ₉If we sell this perfume, we can get a lot of money and give it to poor people.’

₁₀Jesus knew what they were thinking and He said: ‘Why do you want to stop her? She has done a good thing to Me. ₁₁You will always have poor people with you, and you can give them money when you want to, but I will not always be with you. ₁₂This woman has poured perfume over Me to prepare my body before they bury Me. ₁₃I tell you this and it is sure: All over the world where people bring the Good_News, they will also talk about this woman and what she has done. People will remember her.’

₁₄Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 disciples. He went to the chief_priests ₁₅and he asked: ‘What will you give me if I help you to arrest Jesus?’ The chief_priests gave Judas 30 silver_coins. ₁₆Then Judas started to look for the right time to betray Jesus.

₁₇On the first day of the Feast of the flat bread, the disciples asked Jesus: ‘Where must we go to prepare the Passover meal for You?’ ₁₈Jesus said they must go to a man in Jerusalem and say to him: ‘Our Lord says: “My time is near. I want to eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.” ’

₁₉The disciples did what Jesus told them and they prepared for the Passover meal. ₂₀That evening Jesus and his disciples went into the room and they sat at the table. ₂₁Then Jesus said: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: One of you will betray Me.’

₂₂The disciples were upset and sad. Each one of them asked Jesus: ‘Is it I, Lord?’ ₂₃Jesus said to them: ‘One of you who is eating with Me will betray Me. ₂₄I, the Son of man, will die as the prophets wrote about Me. But that man who betrays Me will suffer a lot. It would have been better for him if he had never been born.’

₂₅Judas, who betrayed Jesus, also asked Jesus: ‘Lord, is it I?’ Jesus said to him: ‘Yes, you have said so.’

₂₆While they were eating, Jesus took the bread and He thanked God for it. He took the bread and He broke it into pieces and He gave it to his disciples. Then He said: ‘Take this bread and eat it. This is my body.’

₂₇Then Jesus took the cup of wine and He thanked God for it. He gave it to his disciples and said: ‘Drink from it, all of you. ₂₈The wine in this cup is my blood, the blood of the covenant. ₂₉I tell you this and it is sure: I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink new wine where God my Father rules over all.’

₃₀Jesus and his disciples sang a song and they praised the Lord. Then they went out to the Mount_of_Olives.

₃₁Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You will all run away and leave Me. The prophet wrote:

₃₂But God will raise me up and then I will go to the province of Galilee before you go there.’

₃₃Peter said to Jesus: ‘I will never leave You. Maybe the other disciples will leave You, but I will not.’ ₃₄Jesus said to him: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: You will say you don't know Me. You will say it 3 times tonight before the cock_crows.’

₃₅But Peter said again and again: ‘I will never say that I don't know You. I will die with You.’ All the other disciples said the same.

₃₆Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane and He said to them: ‘Sit here while I pray.’

₃₇He took Peter and the 2 brothers, James and John, with Him. Jesus was very upset and afraid. ₃₈He said to them: ‘I feel so afraid, and it feels like I am dying. Stay here with Me and do not sleep.’

₃₉Jesus walked a little further and He knelt down with his face to the ground and He prayed and asked the Father that, if it was possible, the Father would save Him and take away the suffering that was coming. He prayed and said: ‘But do what You want, not what I want.’

₄₀Jesus came back and He saw that the 3 disciples were sleeping. He asked Peter: ‘Can't you stay awake for one hour? ₄₁You must be awake and pray that the devil will not tempt you to sin. You want to do what is right, but you are weak.’

₄₂Jesus went back and He prayed again and said: ‘My Father, if You do not want to take this suffering away from Me, if I must drink this cup_of_suffering, then do what You want to do.’

₄₃When He came back, He saw that the 3 disciples were sleeping again. They could not keep their eyes open. ₄₄Jesus went to pray again the 3rd time and He prayed the same words. ₄₅When Jesus came back to them, He said: ‘Are you still sleeping and resting? The time has come. They will now betray Me and give the Son of man to sinners. ₄₆Get up, we must go. The man who will betray Me is near.’

₄₇While Jesus was speaking, Judas came to them. Judas was one of the 12 disciples. There were a lot of people with him. They had swords and sticks with them. The chief_priests and teachers_of_the_Laws and family leaders had sent them. ₄₈Judas told the people that he would kiss Jesus, then they would know who He was.

₄₉Judas came to Jesus and he said to Him: ‘Teacher,’ and he kissed Jesus. ₅₀Jesus said to him: ‘My friend, do what you must do.’

Then the people who were with Judas arrested Jesus. ₅₁One of the men who followed Jesus took out his sword and he cut the slave of the high-priest. He cut off his ear. ₅₂Jesus said to him: ‘Put away your sword. People who fight with swords will be killed by swords. ₅₃Don't you know? I can ask my Father in heaven to help Me and He will immediately send more than 12 legions of angels. ₅₄But if God sends his angels to help Me, then the things that the prophets wrote about Me will not happen.’

₅₅Jesus said to the people: ‘Why did you bring swords and sticks with you to arrest Me? Do you think I am a thief? I was with you in the temple every day. I taught the people and you did not arrest Me. ₅₆But all of this must happen because it is written in the Old_Testament.’

Then all of Jesus' disciples ran away. He was alone with the Jews.

₅₇The people took Jesus to the house of Caiaphas, the high-priest, where the chief_priests, the family leaders and teachers_of_the_Laws were. ₅₈Peter also went to the high-priest's house. He walked far behind the other people. He sat with the guards to see what was going to happen.

₅₉The chief_priests and the Jewish_council were looking for something to accuse Jesus of, so that they could kill Him, ₆₀but they could not find anything that Jesus had done wrong. Some people told lies about Jesus, but their stories were not the same. Then 2 men came ₆₁and they said: ‘Jesus said He would break down this temple of God and He would build a new temple in 3 days.’

₆₂The high-priest got up and he asked Jesus: ‘Why don't You say something? Why don't You answer the things that the people say about You?’ ₆₃But Jesus did not say a word. He did not answer them. Then the high-priest asked Him: ‘I ask You and God will listen to what You say. Are You the Christ, the Son of God?’ ₆₄Jesus said to the high-priest: ‘Yes, it is as you say and I tell you:

₆₅Then the high-priest tore his clothes and he said: ‘We have heard enough. You have heard how wrongly He talks about God. ₆₆What do you think?’

Everyone said Jesus was guilty and that they must kill Him. ₆₇Then they started to spit in Jesus' face and they beat Him. Other men hit Him ₆₈and said: ‘Show us You are a prophet. Tell us who hit You.’

₆₉Peter was sitting outside the house when one of the girls who worked there came to him. She said to Peter: ‘You were with Jesus of Galilee.’ ₇₀Peter said it was not_true. He said: ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’

₇₁Peter went out to the gate. Another girl saw Peter and she said to the people: ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ ₇₂But again Peter said: ‘It is not_true. I do not know that Man. The Lord is my Witness.’

₇₃A little later the people who were near Peter said: ‘You are really one of his disciples because you also come from Galilee. You talk like them.’ ₇₄Then Peter started to curse himself and swear and he said: ‘You speak about this Man, but I don't know Him. God is my Witness.’

Then the cock_crowed ₇₅and Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him. Jesus had said: ‘You will say you don't know Me. You will say it 3 times before the cock_crows.’

Peter went outside and he cried and cried.