Knox Bible

1

All this Jesus said, and now, with his disciples, he went out across the Cedron valley. Here there was a garden, into which he and his disciples went.

2

Judas, his betrayer, knew the place well; Jesus and his disciples had often forgathered in it.

3

There, then, Judas came, accompanied by the guard, and officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, with lanterns and torches and weapons.

4

So Jesus, knowing well what was to befall him, went out to meet them; Who is it, he asked, you are looking for?

5

Jesus of Nazareth, they answered; and he told them, I am Jesus of Nazareth. And there was Judas, his betrayer, standing in their company.

6

When he said to them, I am Jesus of Nazareth, they all shrank back, and fell to the ground.

7

So, once more, Jesus asked them, Who is it you are looking for? and when they said, Jesus of Nazareth,

8

he answered, I have told you already that I am Jesus. If I am the man you are looking for, let these others go free.

9

Thus he would make good the words he had spoken to them, I have not lost any of those whom thou hast entrusted to me.✻

10

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear; Malchus was the name of the servant.

11

Whereupon Jesus said to Peter, Put thy sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink that cup which my Father himself has appointed for me?

12

And now the guard, with their captain, and the Jewish officers arrested Jesus and pinioned him.

13

They led him off, in the first instance, to Annas, father-in-law of Caiphas, who held the high priesthood in that year.

14

(It was this Caiphas who had given it as his advice to the Jews, that it was best to put one man to death for the sake of the people.)

15

Simon Peter followed Jesus, with another disciple; this disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and went into the high priest’s court with Jesus,✻

16

while Peter stood at the door without. Afterwards the other disciple, who was the high priest’s acquaintance, went out and spoke to the door-keeper, and so brought Peter in.

17

This maid-servant who kept the door asked Peter, Art thou another of this man’s disciples? and he said, Not I.✻

18

It was cold, and the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, and stood there warming themselves; there Peter stood too, warming himself with the rest.

19

And now the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples, and about his teaching.

20

Jesus answered, I have spoken openly before the world; my teaching has been given in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews forgather; nothing that I have said was said in secret.

21

Why dost thou question me? Ask those who listened to me what my words were; they know well enough what I said.

22

When he spoke thus, one of the officers, who was standing by, struck Jesus on the cheek; Is this, he said, how thou makest answer to the high priest?

23

If there was harm in what I said, Jesus answered, tell us what was harmful in it; if not, why dost thou strike me?

24

Annas, you must know, had sent him on, still bound, to the high priest Caiphas.✻

25

Meanwhile Simon Peter stood there, and warmed himself. So they asked him, Art thou, too, one of his disciples? And he denied it; Not I, he said.

26

Why, said one of the high priest’s servants, a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, did I not see thee with him in the garden?

27

Whereupon Peter denied again; and immediately the cock crew.✻

28

And now they led Jesus away from the house of Caiphas to the governor’s palace. It was morning, and they would not enter the palace themselves; there was the paschal meal to be eaten, and they must not incur defilement.

29

And so Pilate went to meet them without; What charge, he asked, do you bring against this man?

30

They answered, We would not have given him up to thee, if he had not been a malefactor.

31

Take him yourselves, Pilate said to them, and judge him according to your own law. Whereupon the Jews said to him, We have no power to put any man to death.

32

(This was in fulfilment of the words Jesus had spoken when he prophesied what death he was to die.)✻

33

So Pilate went back into the palace, and summoned Jesus; Art thou the king of the Jews? he asked.

34

Dost thou say this of thy own accord, Jesus answered, or is it what others have told thee of me?

35

And Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? It is thy own nation, and its chief priests, who have given thee up to me. What offence hast thou committed?

36

My kingdom, said Jesus, does not belong to this world. If my kingdom were one which belonged to this world, my servants would be fighting, to prevent my falling into the hands of the Jews; but no, my kingdom does not take its origin here.

37

Thou art a king, then? Pilate asked. And Jesus answered, It is thy own lips that have called me a king. What I was born for, what I came into the world for, is to bear witness of the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth, listens to my voice.

38

Pilate said to him, What is truth? And with that he went back to the Jews again, and told them, I can find no fault in him.

39

You have a custom of demanding that I should release one prisoner at paschal time; would you have me release the king of the Jews?

40

Whereupon they all made a fresh outcry; Barabbas, they said, not this man. Barabbas was a robber.✻