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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.