JMNT(i)
1 Now the festival of the unleavened [bread] (or: feast of Matzah) – the one being normally termed Passover – continued drawing near.
2 And still, the chief (head; ranking) priests and the scribes (scholars; theologians) kept on trying to find how they could take Him up (= assassinate Him) – you see they were still fearing the people.
3 Now an adversary (or: an opposing purpose or attitude) entered into Judah (or: Judas) – the man normally being called Iscariot, being [a member] of the number of the twelve.
4 And so, after going off (or: away), he discussed (or: conferred) with the chief (or: head) priest and military leaders (or: officers) about how he could turn Him over to them.
5 Then they rejoiced and placed themselves together in agreement to give him silver coins.
6 And out of this same word (or: discussion) he consented, so then he began trying to find a good situation (or: opportunity) – without a crowd [around] – turn Him over to them.
7 Now [during the period] of the unleavened [loaves; cakes], the day came in which it was periodically necessary for the Passover to be slaughtered in sacrifice.
8 And so He sent off Peter and John on an errand, after saying, "After going your way, at once prepare and make ready the Passover for us, so that we can eat [it]."
9 So they asked Him, "Where are you presently intending [that] we should make [the] preparations?"
10 So then He replied to them, "Take note of this: after your entering into the city, a man carrying an earthenware container (or: fired clay jar or ceramic pitcher) of water will meet with you. At once follow him into the house into which he is proceeding to enter.
11 "Then you will proceed saying to the proprietor (landlord; facility-master) of the house, 'The Teacher (= Rabbi) is now saying to you, "Where is the guest room (caravansary; dining room; khan-room) where I can eat the Passover with My disciples?"'
12 "Then that man will show you a large upper room furnished with [couches] spread out (= arranged). Get things ready and make preparations there."
13 So after going away, they found [it] just as He had declared to them, and they prepared and made ready the Passover.
14 Later, when the hour occurred, He leaned back [there] – as well as the twelve emissaries (commissioned representatives), together with Him.
15 Then He said to them, "With full passion and emotions I yearn and strongly desire [note: the verb is repeated: a Hebrew idiom] to eat this Passover with you folks – before the [occasion for] Me to experience suffering (or: before My [time] to experience [what lies ahead]).
16 "You see, I am now telling you folks that I can (or: may; would) under no circumstances be eating it [other MSS: of or from it] [again] until [the time] when it can (or: until [the circumstances] in which it may or would) be fulfilled in union with God's reign (or: within the midst of God's kingdom; in the sovereign influence and activity which is God)."
17 Then, after receiving a cup [and] speaking a word of the goodness of favor and grace (or: upon taking in hand a cup [of wine], then giving thanks), He said, "Take and receive this, and then distribute [it] into the midst of (= among) yourselves.
18 "You see, I am now saying to you [twelve] that from now on I can under no circumstances drink from the product of the grapevine until which [time or occasion that] God's reign comes (or: the sovereign influence and activity which is God can set out and journey on)."
19 And then, taking in hand a loaf of bread – [and again] speaking a word of favor and grace (or: giving thanks) – He broke [it] in pieces and gave [it] to them, while saying, "This [bread] is (or: = represents) My body (or: the body which is Me) – it is presently and continuously being given over you folks (or: that which is customarily given on your behalf and over your [situation]). You folks are normally doing this unto My memorial (or, reading as an imperative: Habitually do this with a view to My commemoration)."
20 Also, the cup, as thusly [is done] with (or: similarly after) the [occasion] to eat the dinner, continuing in saying, "This, the cup [of wine], [is; represents; seals] the new arrangement (or: the covenant which is new in character and quality) in union with, and within the midst of, My blood (or: the blood which is Me) – it is presently and continuously being poured out over you folks (or: that which is customarily poured out on your behalf).
21 "Moreover, look and consider – the hand of the person in the process of turning Me in (or: giving Me over) [is now] with Me upon the table (= is present here with us).
22 "because indeed, the Son of the Man (the Human Being; = Adam's Son) is progressively going His way – corresponding to and in accord with that which has been determined by marking off the boundaries. But more than that, tragic will be the fate for that person through whom He is being turned in (or: given over)."
23 And so they themselves began to seek, each one in face to face discussion among themselves, who really it could be from their [group] that is progressively about to be committing this thing.
24 Now this also birthed a readiness to quarrel resulting in a dispute (or: a fondness for contention with a love for victory which spawned “mimetic rivalry” [– Walter Wink]) among them about who of them is now seeming to be greater [than the rest] (or: who is normally presuming to be the most important).
25 So He said to them, "The kings of the nations and ethnic multitudes are habitually acting as their lords and owners, and those exercising authority over them are normally being called 'benefactors.'
26 "Yet you men [are] not [to be] thus (or: [are] not [to behave] in this way), but to the contrary, let the greater among you come to be like (or: as) the younger; and the one normally leading like (or: as) the person normally giving attending service.
27 "For who [is] greater? – the one normally reclining [at a meal], or the person that habitually serves [the meal]? [Is it] not the one normally reclining [at the meal]? Yet I Myself am in your midst as the person constantly giving attending service.
28 "Now you yourselves are the men having remained throughout with Me, within and in union with My tests and trials,
29 "and so I, Myself, am now making an arrangement for you (or: am progressively making a covenant with, to and in you folks), just and correspondingly as My Father made the arrangement for a reign for Me (or: made the covenant of a kingdom with, and in, Me) –
30 to the end that you folks can continuously eat and drink at My table, in union with My reign and in the midst of My kingdom and sovereign activities, and now you can habitually sit upon thrones, repeatedly making separations in, evaluations of and decisions for the twelve tribes (or: clans) of Israel. [note: the twelve tribes had been scattered; the last clauses uses the present tenses]
31 "Simon, O Simon! Look, and consider. The adversary (or: opponent; satan) makes (or: made) a request concerning you men: to winnow [you folks] as grain!
32 "But I Myself urgently asked concerning you, [Simon], to the end that your trust and faith would not leave from out of [you] (or: = give out). And so at some point, you yourself, upon turning around, make your brothers immovable (or: stabilize and establish your fellow members)."
33 So then he said to Him, "Lord (Master), I am ready and prepared to proceed going on with You, both into jail (or: prison) and even into death."
34 Yet He said, "I am now saying to you, Peter, a rooster (cock) will not proceed crowing today, until you will three times proceed in denying to have seen or known Me."
35 Next he said to them, "When I sent you men away on a mission – not having a purse or pack (or: food pouch or beggar's sack) or sandals – you did not lack anything, did you?" So they answered, "Nothing!"
36 So then He rejoined to them, "But in contrast now, the one normally having a purse – let him take [it] up; likewise also a food pouch (or: pack; beggar's sack). And the person not now having a sword – let him at once sell his cloak (or: outer garment) and buy [one]. [comment: the situation has now changed and different conditions were imminent]
37 "You see, I continue telling you folks that it continues necessary and binding for the thing having been written to be brought to its goal and finished (or: completed and accomplished) in Me, 'And He was logically counted (or: classed; considered; reckoned) with the lawless folks (or: criminals),' [Isa. 53:12] For also, that which concerns (or: = what [is written] about) Me is presently having an end (or: continues possessing a [or: the] final act; progressively holds a destiny)."
38 So they said, "Look, Lord, here [are] two swords!" And so He replied to them, "It is enough (or: That is sufficient)."
39 Later, upon going out, corresponding to [His] custom (or: as usual) He went His way into the Mount of Olives – now the disciples also followed Him.
40 So, on coming to be at the place, He said to them, "Be habitually praying (or: Be repeatedly expressing a wish with a view toward goodness and for having it well, so as) not to enter into an attempt to bring you into a test which will put you to the proof or will try you."
41 Then He was dragged (or: pulled) away from them about [the distance] of a stone's throw, and kneeling, He began speaking toward having ease and well-being (or: praying),
42 saying, "O Father, if You continue purposing (willing; intending) [it], at once bear along (or: carry aside) this, the cup, away from Me. Yet more than that, not My will or desire, but to the contrary, let Yours continue of itself progressing into being (or: let Yours keep on happening to itself, and from itself come to be, then progressively take place for itself)!" [note: vss. 43 & 44 are omitted in p75, Aleph1, A, B, N, T, W, 579, 1071*, and others, as well as writings by Marcion, Clement, Origen, Athanasius, Ambrose, Cyril John-Damascus, a Georgian MS, and others; Aleph*, D, L, later MSS, various church Fathers, and others include them; Griesbach and Nestle-Aland bracket them; UBS footnotes them in the apparatus]
43 Now an agent from the atmosphere (or: a messenger fromheaven) was seen by Him, continuously strengthening Him.
44 Then, coming to be within the midst of great inner tension and conflict (or: agony and anxiety), He continued praying more intensely and more stretched out, and so His sweat came to be as it were large drops and clots of blood, steadily dropping down upon the ground.
45 Later, rising from the expression of having ease and goodness (or: the prayer) and going toward the disciples, He found them continuing outstretched in slumber, from the distress (or: pain of sorrow).
46 And so He said to them, "Why do you folks continue sleeping? Upon standing up (or: rising), carry on thinking of having ease and well-being (or: praying), so that you folks would not enter into a test or a trial."
47 Amidst His still speaking, look, a crowd! – and the man being normally called Judah (or: Judas), one of the twelve, was progressively coming before them. And then he drew near to Jesus to kiss Him.
48 So Jesus said to him, "Judah (or: Judas), are you now in the process of turning in (or: giving over) the Son of the Man (the Human Being; = the expected Messiah) with (by) a kiss?"
49 But upon seeing the [situation] that was going to exist (or: perceiving what was going to happen), the men around Him said, "Lord (or: Master), shall we strike with (i.e., in [the use of]) a sword?"
50 And then a certain one of them struck the slave of the chief priest, and took off (amputated) his right ear.
51 Yet Jesus, making a decided response, said, "You folks continue allowing [them] – even as far as this!" And then, handling the ear so as to modify and kindle [it], He healed him.
52 So then Jesus said to the folks arriving upon Him and at His side – chief (or: ranking) priests and officers of the Temple, as well as elders, "Do you come out with swords and clubs and staffs, as upon a robber?
53 "During My being with you folks daily, within the Temple courts (or: grounds), you did not stretch out [your] hands upon Me. But now, this is your hour, and the privilege of the darkness (or: even the authority of the gloomy realm of shadow and dim obscurity)." [comment: this second rendering equates the darkness to this adverse group]
54 So, after taking Him into custody (or: apprehending and arresting Him), they led [Him off] and brought [Him] into the chief priest's house. Now Peter kept on following, at a distance.
55 Now after their lighting a fire in [the] midst of the courtyard and sitting down together, Peter was sitting down in their midst.
56 So at seeing him sitting, facing toward the light (= the glow of the fire), and now staring intently at him, a certain serving girl says,
57 "This man was also together with him." Yet he denied, proceeding in saying, "I have neither seen nor do I know Him, woman!"
58 Later, after a short while, a different person, upon seeing him, affirmed, "You, yourself, are also [one] of them!" But Peter affirmed, "Man (Buddy; Mister; My good fellow), I am not!"
59 Then, after the intervening of about an hour, someone else began strongly insisting (or: firmly maintaining), then saying, "Of a truth (or: Really; Quite certainly), this man was with him, for he is a Galilean, too!"
60 So Peter says, "Man (Sir; Mister), I have not seen, so I don't know what you are now saying (= what you mean)!" Then, at the appropriate moment (or: immediately) – while [he is] still speaking – a cock crows.
61 And then, after being turned, the Lord looked within (or: on; at) Peter, and Peter was reminded of the Lord's saying (or: gush-effect; spoken word; declaration) as He said to him, "Before a rooster (or: cock) is to crow today, you will proceed denying and disowning Me three times."
62 And so, after going outside, he wept bitterly.
63 Now the men – those continuing to hold Jesus in custody – began making fun of Him, treating Him like a child and jesting, while repeatedly lashing [Him].
64 Then, after putting a covering around (perhaps: over) Him, they continued asking, one after another saying, "Prophesy, who is the person hitting You and treating you like a child?"
65 And so they went on saying many different things, while repeatedly blaspheming with vilifying, abusive, insulting and light-hindering speech to Him (i.e., into His [face]).
66 Eventually, as it became day, the body of the elders (= the Sanhedrin) of the people was led together (was gathered and assembled) – [including] both chief (or: ranking) priests and scribes (scholars and theologians) – and they led Him away into their Sanhedrin (the supreme Jewish council), saying,
67 "If you are the Christ (the Anointed One; = the Messiah), tell us!" So He said to them, "If I should tell you, you folks would by no means believe Me (or: you certainly would not trust Me or put your faith in Me).
68 "Yet if I should be asking, there is no way you folks would make a decided reply or release Me.
69 "However, from the present time (from now on) the Son of the Man (the Human Being; = the expected Messiah) will be continuously ‘sitting out of the midst of God's right [hand] of power (or: permanently [positioned] on the right [hand] of the power of God).’" [Ps. 110:1]
70 So everyone [together] said, "Then you, yourself, are God's son!" (or: Consequently all asked, "Are you, yourself, therefore the Son of God?") Now He affirmed to them, "You, yourselves, are repeatedly saying that I am." (or: "Are you, yourselves, presently saying that I am?"; or: = a Greek idiom for, "Yes.")
71 So they said, "Why do we still continue having a need for a witness? (or: What further need do we now have of testimony?) For we ourselves heard [it] from his own mouth!"