Matthew 26:36-75

Complete Jewish Bible

³⁶ Then Yeshua went with his talmidim to a place called Gat-Sh’manim and said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ He took with him Kefa and Zavdai’s two sons. Grief and anguish came over him, ³⁸ and he said to them, “My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die! Remain here and stay awake with me.” ³⁹ Going on a little farther, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from me! Yet — not what I want, but what you want!” ⁴⁰ He returned to the talmidim and found them sleeping. He said to Kefa, “Were you so weak that you couldn’t stay awake with me for even an hour? ⁴¹ Stay awake, and pray that you will not be put to the test — the spirit indeed is eager, but human nature is weak.”

⁴² A second time he went off and prayed. “My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink it, let what you want be done.” ⁴³ Again he returned and found them sleeping, their eyes were so heavy.

⁴⁴ Leaving them again, he went off and prayed a third time, saying the same words. ⁴⁵ Then he came to the talmidim and said, “For now, go on sleeping, take your rest. . . . Look! The time has come for the Son of Man to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶ Get up! Let’s go! Here comes my betrayer!”

⁴⁷ While Yeshua was still speaking, Y’hudah (one of the Twelve!) came, and with him a large crowd carrying swords and clubs, from the head cohanim and elders of the people. ⁴⁸ The betrayer had arranged to give them a signal: “The man I kiss is the one you want — grab him!” ⁴⁹ He went straight up to Yeshua, said, “Shalom, Rabbi!” and kissed him. ⁵⁰ Yeshua said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they moved forward, laid hold of Yeshua and arrested him.

⁵¹ At that, one of the men with Yeshua reached for his sword, drew it out and struck at the servant of the cohen hagadol, cutting off his ear. ⁵² Yeshua said to him, “Put your sword back where it belongs, for everyone who uses the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³ Don’t you know that I can ask my Father, and he will instantly provide more than a dozen armies of angels to help me? ⁵⁴ But if I did that, how could the passages in the Tanakh be fulfilled that say it has to happen this way?”

⁵⁵ Then Yeshua addressed the crowd: “So you came out to take me with swords and clubs, the way you would the leader of a rebellion? Every day I sat in the Temple court, teaching; and you didn’t seize me then. ⁵⁶ But all this has happened so that what the prophets wrote may be fulfilled.” Then the talmidim all deserted him and ran away.

⁵⁷ Those who had seized Yeshua led him off to Kayafa the cohen hagadol, where the Torah-teachers and elders were assembled. ⁵⁸ Kefa followed him at a distance as far as the courtyard of the cohen hagadol; then he went inside and sat down with the guards to see what the outcome would be.

⁵⁹ The head cohanim and the whole Sanhedrin looked for some false evidence against Yeshua, so that they might put him to death. ⁶⁰ But they didn’t find any, even though many liars came forward to give testimony. At last, however, two people came forward and said, ⁶¹ “This man said, ‘I can tear down God’s Temple and build it again in three days.’” ⁶² The cohen hagadol stood up and said, “Have you nothing to say to the accusation these men are making?” ⁶³ Yeshua remained silent. The cohen hagadol said to him, “I put you under oath! By the living God, tell us if you are the Mashiach, the Son of God!” ⁶⁴ Yeshua said to him, “The words are your own. But I tell you that one day you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of HaG’vurah and coming on the clouds of heaven.”^{[a] 65} At this, the cohen hagadol tore his robes. “Blasphemy!” he said. “Why do we still need witnesses? You heard him blaspheme! ⁶⁶ What is your verdict?” “Guilty,” they answered. “He deserves death!” ⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and pounded him with their fists; and those who were beating him ⁶⁸ said, “Now, you ‘Messiah,’ ‘prophesy’ to us: who hit you that time?”

⁶⁹ Kefa was sitting outside in the courtyard when a servant girl came up to him. “You too were with Yeshua from the Galil,” she said. ⁷⁰ But he denied it in front of everyone — “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” ⁷¹ He went out onto the porch, and another girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Yeshua of Natzeret.” ⁷² Again he denied it, swearing, “I don’t know the man!” ⁷³ After a little while, the bystanders approached Kefa and said, “You must be one of them — your accent gives you away.” ⁷⁴ This time he began to invoke a curse on himself as he swore, “I do not know the man!” — and immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Kefa remembered what Yeshua had said, “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times”; and he went outside and cried bitterly.