Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus,

²and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.

⁴For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

⁵Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet.

⁶But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,

⁷so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

⁸And after being prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

⁹And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and his dinner guests.

¹⁰He sent word and had John beheaded in the prison.

¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

¹²John’s disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

¹³Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard about this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.

¹⁴When He came ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

¹⁵Now when it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is secluded and the hour is already past to eat; send the crowds away, so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go; you give them something to eat!”

¹⁷They *said to Him, “We have nothing here except five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸And He said, “Bring them here to Me.”

¹⁹And ordering the crowds to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looked up toward heaven. He blessed the food and breaking the loaves, He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

²⁰And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces: twelve full baskets.

²¹There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.

²²Immediately afterward He compelled the disciples to get into the boat and to go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away.

²³After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.

²⁴But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary.

²⁵And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea.

²⁶When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.

²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage,it is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸Peter responded and said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

²⁹And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.

³⁰But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

³¹Immediately Jesus reached out with His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.

³³And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are truly God’s Son!”

³⁴When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.

³⁵And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding region and brought to Him all who were sick;

³⁶and they pleaded with Him that they might just touch the border of His cloak; and all who touched it were cured.

¹Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

²“Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

³And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

⁴For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘THE ONE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TOBE PUT TO DEATH.’

⁵But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has beengiven to God,”

⁶he is not tohonor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

⁷You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying:

⁸‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

⁹AND IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.’ ”

¹⁰After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand!

¹¹It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.”

¹²Then the disciples came and *said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”

¹³But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

¹⁴Leave them alone; they are blind guidesof blind people. And if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.”

¹⁵Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.”

¹⁶Jesus said, “Are you also still lacking in understanding?

¹⁷Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and iseliminated?

¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person.

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, andslanderous statements.

²⁰These are the things that defile the person; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the person.”

²¹Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon.

²²And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

²³But He did not answer her with even a word. And His disciples came up and urged Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us!”

²⁴But He answered and said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, “Lord, help me!”

²⁶Yet He answered and said, “It is notgood to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷And she said, “Yes, Lord; but please help, for even the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus said to her, “O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at once.

²⁹Departing from there, Jesus went along the Sea of Galilee, and after going up on the mountain, He was sitting there.

³⁰And large crowds came to Him bringing with them those who were limping, had impaired limbs, were blind, or were unable to speak, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.

³¹So the crowd was astonished as they saw those who were unable to speak talking, those with impaired limbs restored, those who were limping walking around, and those who were blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Now Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I feel compassion for thepeople, because theyhave remained with Me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

³³The disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?”

³⁴And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”

³⁵And He directed the people to sit down on the ground;

³⁶and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full.

³⁸And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and putting Jesus to the test, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.

²But He replied to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’

³And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to discern theappearance of the sky, but are you unable to discern the signs of the times?

⁴An evil and adulterous generation wants asign; and so asign will not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵And the disciples came to the other side of the sea, but they had forgotten to bring any bread.

⁶And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of theleaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷They began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring any bread.”

⁸But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread?

⁹Do you not yet understand nor remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets you picked up?

¹⁰Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets you picked up?

¹¹How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you about bread? But beware of theleaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

¹²Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³Now when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

¹⁴And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.”

¹⁵He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?”

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

¹⁷And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, SimonBarjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

¹⁸And I also say to you that you arePeter, and upon thisrock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever youbind on earthshall have been bound in heaven, and whatever youloose on earthshall have been loosed in heaven.”

²⁰Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was the Christ.

²¹From that time Jesus began to point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day.

²²And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You!”

²³But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind onGod’s purposes, but men’s.”

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.

²⁵For whoever wants to save hislife will lose it; but whoever loses hislife for My sake will find it.

²⁶For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, butforfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul?

²⁷For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY PERSON ACCORDING TO HISDEEDS.

²⁸“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

¹Six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves.

²And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.

³And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

⁴Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

⁵While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!”

⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.

⁷And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”

⁸And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

⁹When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

¹⁰And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹¹And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

¹²but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but didto him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to sufferat their hands.”

¹³Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,

¹⁵“Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water.

¹⁶And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.”

¹⁷And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.”

¹⁸And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was healed at once.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”

²⁰And He *said to them, “Because of your meager faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faiththe size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

²¹

²²And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to behanded over to men;

²³and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

²⁴Now when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”

²⁵He *said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs orpoll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?”

²⁶When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons areexempt.

²⁷However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find astater. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

²And He called a child to Himself and set him among them,

³and said, “Truly I say to you, unless youchange and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

⁴So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

⁵And whoever receives one such child in My name, receives Me;

⁶but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me tosin, it is better for him that aheavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.

⁷“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to the person through whom the stumbling block comes!

⁸“And if your hand or your foot is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or without a foot, than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.

⁹And if your eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into thefiery hell.

¹⁰“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones; for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

¹¹

¹²“What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains, and go and search for the one that is lost?

¹³And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray.

¹⁴So it is not the willof your Father who is in heaven for one of these little ones to perish.

¹⁵“Now if your brother sins , go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

¹⁶But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ON THETESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERYMATTER MAY BE CONFIRMED.

¹⁷And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be to you asa Gentile anda tax collector.

¹⁸Truly I say to you, whatever youbind on earthshall have been bound in heaven; and whatever youloose on earthshall have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

²⁰For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

²¹Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him? Up to seven times?”

²²Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up toseventy-seven times.

²³“For this reason the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.

²⁴And when he had begun to settle them, one who owed himten thousand talents was brought to him.

²⁵But since hedid not have the means to repay, his master commanded that he be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment be made.

²⁶So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’

²⁷And the master of that slave felt compassion, and he released him and forgave him thedebt.

²⁸But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundreddenarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’

²⁹So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’

³⁰But he was unwilling,and went and threw him in prison until he would pay back what was owed.

³¹So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their master all that had happened.

³²Then summoning him, his master *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

³³Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

³⁴And his master, moved with anger, handed him over to thetorturers until he would repay all that was owed him.

³⁵My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from yourheart.”

¹When Jesus had finished these words, He left Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan;

²and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.

³Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?”

⁴And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,

⁵and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?

⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.”

⁷They *said to Him, “Why, then, did Moses command to GIVE her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

⁸He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you todivorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.

⁹And I say to you, whoeverdivorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another womancommits adultery.”

¹⁰The disciples *said to Him, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.”

¹¹But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given.

¹²For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

¹³Then some children were brought to Him so that He would lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.

¹⁴But Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and do notforbid them to come to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

¹⁵After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.

¹⁶And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?”

¹⁷And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

¹⁸Then he *said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT GIVE FALSE TESTIMONY;

¹⁹HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

²⁰The young man *said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?”

²¹Jesus said to him, “If you want to becomplete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

²²But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.

²³And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

²⁴And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁵When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁶And looking at them, Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

²⁷Then Peter responded and said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”

²⁸And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in theregeneration when the Son of Man will sit onHis glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or motheror children or farms on account of My name, will receivemany times as much, and will inherit eternal life.

³⁰But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.

¹“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

²When he had agreed with the laborers for adenarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

³And he went out about thethird hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace;

⁴and to those he said, ‘You go into the vineyard also, and whatever is right, I will give you.’ And so they went.

⁵Again he went out about thesixth and the ninth hour, and didthe same thing.

⁶And about theeleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’

⁷They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸“Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’

⁹When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received adenarius.

¹⁰And so when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more;but each of them also received a denarius.

¹¹When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner,

¹²saying, ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat.’

¹³But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?

¹⁴Take what is yours and go; but I want to give to this last person the same as to you.

¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is my own? Or is your eyeenvious because I amgenerous?’

¹⁶So the last shall be first, and the first, last.”

¹⁷As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the road He said to them,

¹⁸“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will behanded over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death,

¹⁹and they will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and flog and crucify, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

²⁰Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

²¹And He said to her, “What do you desire?” She *said to Him, “Say that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine shall sit, one at Your right, and one at Your left.”

²²But Jesus replied, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.”

²³He *said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit at My right and at My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

²⁴And after hearing this, the other ten disciples became indignant with the two brothers.

²⁵But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles domineer over them, andthose in high position exercise authority over them.

²⁶Itis not this way among you, but whoever wants to becomeprominent among you shall be your servant,

²⁷and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave;

²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give Hislife as a ransom for many.”

²⁹As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

³⁰And two people who were blind, sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

³¹But the crowd sternly warned them to be quiet; yet they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

³²And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

³³They *said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.”

³⁴Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

¹When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus then sent two disciples,

²saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with it. Untie them and bring them to Me.

³And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them on immediately.”

⁴Now this took place so that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled:

⁵“SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘BEHOLD YOUR KING IS COMING TO YOU, HUMBLE, AND MOUNTED ON A DONKEY, EVEN ON A COLT, THE FOAL OF A DONKEY.’ ”

⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them,

⁷and brought the donkey and the colt, and laid their cloaks on them; and He sat on the cloaks.

⁸Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.

⁹Now the crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!”

¹⁰When He had entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”

¹¹And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹²And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.

¹³And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘MY HOUSE WILL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a DEN OF ROBBERS.”

¹⁴And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and He healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant,

¹⁶and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘FROM THE MOUTHS OF INFANTS AND NURSING BABIES YOU HAVE PREPARED PRAISE FOR YOURSELF’?”

¹⁷And He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

¹⁸Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry.

¹⁹And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?”

²¹And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen.

²²And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”

²³When He entered the temple area, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to Him while He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this authority?”

²⁴But Jesus responded and said to them, “I will also ask you onequestion, which, if you tell Me, I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say to us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

²⁶But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.”

²⁷And answering Jesus, they said, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘ Son, go work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went.

³⁰And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go.

³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They *said, “The first.” Jesus *said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostituteswill get into the kingdom of God before you.

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not evenhave second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

³³“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A FENCE AROUND IT, AND DUG A WINE PRESS IN IT, AND BUILT A TOWER, and he leased it to vine-growers and went on a journey.

³⁴And when theharvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his fruit.

³⁵And the vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

³⁶Again, he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they did the same things to them.

³⁷But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’

³⁸But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let’s kill him and take possession of his inheritance!’

³⁹And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰Therefore, when theowner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”

⁴¹They *said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him the fruit in the proper seasons.”

⁴²Jesus *said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘A STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS HAS BECOME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES’?

⁴³Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruit.

⁴⁴And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and on whomever it falls, it will crush him.”

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them.

⁴⁶And although they sought to arrest Him, they feared the crowds, since they considered Him to be a prophet.

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,

²“The kingdom of heavenis likea king whoheld a wedding feast for his son.

³And he sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

⁴Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened cattle are all butchered and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!” ’

⁵But they paid no attention and went their separate ways, one to his ownfarm, another to his business,

⁶and the rest seized his slaves and treated them abusively, and then killed them.

⁷Now the king was angry, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.

⁸Then he *said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

⁹So go to the main roads, and invite whomever you find there to the wedding feast.’

¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good; and the wedding hall was filled withdinner guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes,

¹²and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless.

¹³Then the king said to the servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in that place.’

¹⁴For many arecalled, but few are chosen.”

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted together how they might trap Him in what He said.

¹⁶And they *sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and do not care what anyone thinks; for You are not partial to anyone.

¹⁷Tell us then, what do You think? Is it permissible to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus perceived their malice, and said, “Why are you testing Me, you hypocrites?

¹⁹Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.” And they brought Him a denarius.

²⁰And He *said to them, “Whose image and inscription is this?”

²¹They *said to Him, “Caesar’s.” Then He *said to them, “Then pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and to God the things that are God’s.”

²²And hearing this, they were amazed; and they left Him and went away.

²³On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,

²⁴saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother as next of kin shall marry his wife, and raise up children for his brother.’

²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us; and the first married and died, and having no children, he left his wife to his brother.

²⁶It was the same also with the second brother, and the third, down to the seventh.

²⁷Last of all, the woman died.

²⁸In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her in marriage.”

²⁹But Jesus answered and said to them, “You are mistaken, since you do notunderstand the Scriptures nor the power of God.

³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

³¹But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God:

³²‘I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³³When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.

³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

³⁵And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him:

³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

³⁷And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

³⁸This is the great andforemost commandment.

³⁹The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

⁴⁰Upon these two commandmentshang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question:

⁴²“What do you think about theChrist? Whose son is He?” They *said to Him, “The son of David.”

⁴³He *said to them, “Thenhow does Davidin the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying,

⁴⁴‘THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES UNDER YOUR FEET” ’?

⁴⁵Therefore, if David calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his son?”

⁴⁶No one was able to offer Him a word in answer, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him any more questions.

¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,

²saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.

³Therefore, whatever they tell you, do andcomply with it all, but do not doas they do; for they say things and do not do them.

⁴And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger.

⁵And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden theirphylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.

⁶And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues,

⁷and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being calledRabbi by the people.

⁸But as for you, do not be calledRabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters.

⁹And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven.

¹⁰And do not be calledleaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ.

¹¹But the greatest of you shall be your servant.

¹²Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

¹³“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter it yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

¹⁴

¹⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’

¹⁷You fools and blind men! Which ismore important, the gold or thetemple that sanctified the gold?

¹⁸And you say, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing; but whoever swears by theoffering that is on it is obligated.’

¹⁹You blind men, which ismore important, theoffering or the altar that sanctifies theoffering?

²⁰Therefore, the one who swears by the altar, swears both bythe altar and by everything on it.

²¹And the one who swears by thetemple, swears both bythe temple and by Him who dwells in it.

²²And the one who swears byheaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.

²⁴You blind guides, whostrain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.

²⁶You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that theoutside of it may also become clean.

²⁷“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

²⁸So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,

³⁰and you say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

³¹So you testify against yourselves, that you aresons of those who murdered the prophets.

³²Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers.

³³You snakes, youoffspring of vipers, howwill you escape thesentence ofhell?

³⁴“Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,

³⁵so that upon you will fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between thetemple and the altar.

³⁶Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.

³⁸Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!

³⁹For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’ ”

¹Jesus left the temple area and was going on His way when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him.

²But He responded and said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no onemisleads you.

⁵For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am theChrist,’ and they willmislead many people.

⁶And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

⁸But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains.

⁹“Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

¹⁰And at that time many willfall away, and they willbetray one another and hate one another.

¹¹And many false prophets will rise up andmislead many people.

¹²And because lawlessness is increased,most people’s love will become cold.

¹³But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved.

¹⁴This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the wholeworld as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵“Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place— let the reader understand—

¹⁶then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.

¹⁷Whoever is on thehousetop must not go down to get things out of his house.

¹⁸Andwhoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.

¹⁹But woe to those women who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days!

²⁰Moreover, pray thatwhen you flee, it will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.

²¹For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will again.

²²And if those days had not been cut short, nolife would have been saved; but for the sake of theelect those days will be cut short.

²³Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is theChrist,’ or ‘He is over here,’ do not believe him.

²⁴For false christs and false prophets will arise and will provide greatsigns and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even theelect.

²⁵Behold, I have told you in advance.

²⁶So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them.

²⁷For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Manbe.

²⁸Wherever the corpse is, there thevultures will gather.

²⁹“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

³⁰And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.

³¹And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET BLAST, and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER Hiselect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near;

³³so you too, when you see all these things,recognize thatHe is near, right at thedoor.

³⁴Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

³⁶“But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

³⁷Forthe coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,

³⁹and they did notunderstand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

⁴⁰At that time there will be two men in the field; onewill be taken and onewill be left.

⁴¹Two women will be grinding at themill; onewill be taken and onewill be left.

⁴²“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

⁴³Butbe sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁴For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

⁴⁵“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household slaves, to give them their food at the proper time?

⁴⁶Blessed is that slave whom hismaster finds so doing when he comes.

⁴⁷Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

⁴⁸But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘Mymasteris not coming for a long time,’

⁴⁹and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and he eats and drinks with those habitually drunk;

⁵⁰then themaster of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect, and at an hour that he does not know,

⁵¹and he willcut him in two and assignhim a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom.

²Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.

³For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take extra oil with them;

⁴but the prudent ones took oil in flasks with their lamps.

⁵Now while the groom was delaying, they all became drowsy and began to sleep.

⁶But at midnightthere finally was a shout: ‘Behold, the groom! Come out to meet him.’

⁷Then all those virgins got up and trimmed their lamps.

⁸But the foolish virgins said to the prudent ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.’

⁹However, the prudent ones answered, ‘No, there most certainly would not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the merchants and buy some for yourselves.’

¹⁰But while they wereon their way to buy the oil, the groom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.

¹¹Yet later, the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’

¹²But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’

¹³Be on the alert then, because you do not know the day nor the hour.

¹⁴“For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.

¹⁵To one he gave fivetalents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.

¹⁶The one who had received the five talents immediately went and did business with them, and earned five more talents.

¹⁷In the same way the one who had received the two talents earned two more.

¹⁸But he who received the one talent went away and dug a hole in the ground, and hid hismaster’s money.

¹⁹“Now after a long time the master of those slaves *came and *settled accounts with them.

²⁰The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have earned five more talents.’

²¹His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of yourmaster.’

²²“Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have earned two more talents.’

²³His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’

²⁴“Now the one who had received the one talent also came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed.

²⁵And I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you still have what is yours.’

²⁶“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You worthless, lazy slave! Did you know that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter seed?

²⁷Then you ought to haveput my money in the bank, andon my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.

²⁸Therefore: take the talent away from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’

²⁹“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.

³⁰And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

³¹“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

³²And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

³³and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

³⁵For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;

³⁶naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?

³⁸And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?

³⁹And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

⁴⁰And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’

⁴¹“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you accursed people, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;

⁴²for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;

⁴³I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or as a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did nottake care of You?’

⁴⁵Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me, either.’

⁴⁶These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

¹When Jesus had 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 is to be handed over for crucifixion.”

³At that time the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest named Caiaphas;

⁴and they plotted together to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him.

⁵But they were saying, “Not during the festival, otherwise a riot might occur among the people.”

⁶Now when Jesus was in Bethany, at the home of Simon the Leper,

⁷a woman came to Him with an alabaster vial of very expensive perfume, and she poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table.

⁸But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, and said, “Why this waste?

⁹For this perfume could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

¹⁰But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering the woman? For she has done a good deed for Me.

¹¹For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.

¹²For when she poured this perfume on My body, she did it to prepare Me for burial.

¹³Truly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁴Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

¹⁶And from then on he looked for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.

¹⁷Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “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 keeping the Passover at your house with My disciples.” ’ ”

¹⁹The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

²⁰Now when evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the twelve.

²¹And as they were eating, He said, “Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.”

²²Being deeply grieved, they began saying to Him, each one: “Surely it is not I, Lord?”

²³And He answered, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me.

²⁴The Son of Man is going away just as it is written about Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been goodfor that man if he had not been born.”

²⁵And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” Jesus *said to him, “You have said it yourself.”

²⁶Now while they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

²⁷And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you;

²⁸for this is My blood of the covenant, which is being poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.

²⁹But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it with you, new, in My Father’s kingdom.”

³⁰And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus *said to them, “You will allfall away because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I WILL STRIKE THE SHEPHERD, AND THE SHEEP OF THE FLOCK WILL BE SCATTERED.’

³²But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”

³³But Peter replied to Him, “Even if they all fall away because of You, I will never fall away!”

³⁴Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

³⁵Peter *said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” All the disciples said the same thing as well.

³⁶Then Jesus *came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and *told His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”

³⁷And He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with Him, and began to be grieved and distressed.

³⁸Then He *said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.”

³⁹And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.”

⁴⁰And He *came to the disciples and *found them sleeping, and He *said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour?

⁴¹Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit iswilling, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup cannot pass away unless I drink from it, Your will be done.”

⁴³Again He came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.

⁴⁴And He left them again, and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.

⁴⁵Then He *came to the disciples and *said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the houris at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

⁴⁶Get up, let’s go; behold, the one who is betraying Me is near!”

⁴⁷And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people.

⁴⁸Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign previously, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the one; arrest Him.”

⁴⁹And immediately Judas went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him.

⁵⁰But Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested Him.

⁵¹And behold, one of those who were with Jesus reached and drew his sword, and struck the slave 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 up the sword will perish by the sword.

⁵³Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelvelegions of angels?

⁵⁴How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest Me as you would against a man inciting a revolt? Every day I used to sit within the temple grounds teaching, and you did not arrest Me.

⁵⁶But all this has taken place so that the Scriptures of the prophets will be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left Him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.

⁵⁸But Peter was following Him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and he came inside and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the entire Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.

⁶⁰They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later on two came forward,

⁶¹and said, “This man stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days.’ ”

⁶²The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You offer no answer for what these men are testifying against You?”

⁶³But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I place You under oath by the living God, to tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.”

⁶⁴Jesus *said to him, “You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? See, you have now heard the blasphemy;

⁶⁶what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!”

⁶⁷Then they spit in His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him,

⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?”

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a slave woman came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you are talking about.”

⁷¹When he had gone out to the gateway, another slave woman saw him and *said to those who were there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²And again he denied it, with an oath: “I do not know the man.”

⁷³A little later the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “You really are one of them as well, since even the way you talk gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” And immediately a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵And Peter remembered the statement that Jesus had made: “Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.