The Season of Lent

Even now, declares the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and grief.

¹³Tear your heart and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in mercy,

and he relents from sending disaster.

¹⁴Who knows?

He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

¹⁵Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.

Set aside a day for fasting.

Call a solemn convocation.

¹⁶Gather the people.

Consecrate the assembly.

Bring together the elders.

Gather the children, even those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the temple porch and the altar.

Let them say:

Have compassion on your people, O Lord.

Do not subject the inheritance you have given us to the scorn of the nations.

Do not make us notorious among the nations as an object of ridicule.

Why should they say among the peoples,

“Where is their God?”

¹⁸The Lord is zealous for his land,

and he will take pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord will respond to them:

I am sending you grain, new wine, and fresh oil,

enough to satisfy you fully.

Never again will I subject you to scorn among the nations.

To the messenger of the church in Sardis write:

The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this:

I know your works. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. ²Wake up, and strengthen what is left, which is about to die, for I have found that your works are not complete in the sight of my God. ³Therefore remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and repent! If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come upon you.

Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator over you?”

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has.”

¹⁶He told them a parable: “The land of a certain rich man produced very well. ¹⁷He was thinking to himself, ‘What will I do, because I do not have anywhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods. ¹⁹And I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.” ’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’

²¹“That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Some time later God tested Abraham. He called to him, “Abraham!”

Abraham answered, “I am here.”

²God said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there, the one to which I direct you.”

³Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, along with Isaac his son. Abraham split the wood for the burnt offering. Then he set out to go to the place that God had told him about. ⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

⁵Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go on over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.” ⁶Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it on Isaac his son. He took the firepot and the knife in his hand. The two of them went on together.

⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father?”

He said, “I am here, my son.”

He said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”

⁸Abraham said, “God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them went on together. ⁹They came to the place that God had told him about. Abraham built the altar there. He arranged the wood, tied up Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

¹¹The Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

Abraham said, “I am here.”

¹²He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

¹³Abraham looked around and saw that behind him there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord Will Provide.” So it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

¹⁵The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven ¹⁶and said, “I have sworn by myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, ¹⁷I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your descendants greatly, like the stars of the sky and like the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the city gates of their enemies. ¹⁸In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

What then will we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?

³³Who will bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies! ³⁴Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus, who died and, more than that, was raised to life, is the one who is at God’s right hand and who is also interceding for us! ³⁵What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶Just as it is written:

For your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powerful forces, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Spirit immediately sent Jesus out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels were serving him.

¹⁴After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. ¹⁵“The time is fulfilled,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near! Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their oldest brother, ¹⁴a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the female donkeys were grazing nearby, ¹⁵when the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They put the servants to death with the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁶While he was still speaking, another servant came and said, “The fire of God fell from the sky and burned up the flocks and the servants and consumed them, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁷While he was still speaking, another servant came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and plundered the camels and took them away. They put the servants to death with the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

¹⁸While he was still speaking, another servant came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and were drinking wine in the house of their oldest brother. ¹⁹Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it collapsed on the young people, and they died, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

²⁰Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshipped. ²¹Then he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be blessed.”

²²In all this, Job did not sin or blame God.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God.

³Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, ⁴and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. ⁵And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

⁶For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, it is even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. ¹⁰For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it is even more certain that, since we have been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. ¹¹And not only is this so, but we also go on rejoicing confidently in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the experts in the law; be killed; and after three days rise again. ³²He was speaking plainly to them. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But after turning around and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men.”

³⁴He called the crowd and his disciples together and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶After all, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸In fact, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Then God spoke all these words:

²I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.

³You shall have no other gods beside me. ⁴You shall not make any carved image for yourself or a likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. ⁵Do not bow down to them or be subservient to them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God. I follow up on the guilt of the fathers with their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, if they also hate me. ⁶But I show mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not permit anyone who misuses his name to escape unpunished.

⁸Remember the Sabbath day by setting it apart as holy. ⁹Six days you are to serve and do all your regular work, ¹⁰but the seventh day shall be a sabbath rest to the Lord your God. Do not do any regular work, neither you, nor your sons or daughters, nor your male or female servants, nor your cattle, nor the alien who is residing inside your gates, ¹¹for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. In this way the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy.

¹²Honor your father and your mother so that you may spend many days on the land that the Lord your God is giving to you.

¹³You shall not commit murder.

¹⁴You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵You shall not steal.

¹⁶You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. ¹⁹In fact, it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nothing.

²⁰Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Jewish law? Where is the probing thinker of the present age? Has God not shown that the wisdom of this world is foolish? ²¹Indeed, since the world through its wisdom did not know God, God in his wisdom decided to save those who believe, through the foolishness of the preached message. ²²Yes, Jews ask for signs, Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ crucified—which is offensive to Jews and foolishness to Greeks, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵We preach Christ crucified, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and money changers sitting at tables. ¹⁵He made a whip of cords and drove everyone out of the temple courts, along with the sheep and oxen. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶To those selling doves he said, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a place of business!”

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸So the Jews responded, “What sign are you going to show us to prove you can do these things?”

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”

²⁰The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple! And you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. ²²When Jesus was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this. Then they believed the Scripture and what Jesus had said.

They set out from Mount Hor along the road to the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom, but the people became very impatient along the way. ⁵The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? Look, there is no food! There is no water! And we are disgusted by this worthless food!”

⁶The Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and the snakes bit the people. As a result many people from Israel died. ⁷The people went to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord to take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed on behalf of the people.

⁸The Lord said to Moses, “Make a venomous snake and put it on a pole. If anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.” ⁹Moses made a bronze snake and put it on the pole. If a snake had bitten anyone, if that person looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

You were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in which you formerly walked when you followed the ways of this present world. You were following the ruler of the domain of the air, the spirit now at work in the people who disobey.

³Formerly, we all lived among them in the passions of our sinful flesh, as we carried out the desires of the sinful flesh and its thoughts. Like all the others, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath.

⁴But God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! ⁶He also raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. ⁷He did this so that, in the coming ages, he might demonstrate the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—⁹not by works, so that no one can boast.

¹⁰For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance so that we would walk in them.

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. ¹⁹This is the basis for the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰In fact, everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, or else his deeds would be exposed. ²¹But the one who does what is true comes toward the light, in order that his deeds may be seen as having been done in connection with God.”

But now this is what the Lord says,

the Lord who created you, O Jacob,

the Lord who formed you, O Israel.

Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you.

I have called you by name. You are mine.

²When you cross through the waters, I will be with you.

When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away.

When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,

and the flame will not set you on fire.

³Because I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior,

I gave Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

⁴Because you are precious and honored in my eyes,

and I myself love you,

I will give people in exchange for you,

and peoples in exchange for your life.

⁵Do not be afraid, because I am with you.

From the east I will bring your offspring,

and from the west I will gather you.

⁶I will say to the north, “Give them back!”

and to the south, “Do not hold them.”

Bring my sons from far away

and my daughters from the end of the earth—

⁷everyone who is called by my name,

everyone I created for my glory,

everyone I formed,

yes, everyone I have made.

In the days of his flesh, he offered prayers and pleas with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. ⁹After he was brought to his goal, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him.

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew came with Philip and told Jesus.

²³Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this world will hold on to it for eternal life. ²⁶If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, this is the reason I came to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name!”

A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said it thundered. Others said an angel talked to him. ³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice was not for my sake but for yours.

³¹“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!

Look! Your King is coming to you.

He is righteous and brings salvation.

He is humble and is riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the horse from Jerusalem.

The battle bow will be taken away,

and he will proclaim peace to the nations.

His kingdom will extend from sea to sea,

from the River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you,

because of the blood of my covenant with you,

I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

¹²Return to the stronghold, you prisoners who have hope.

This very day I declare that I will restore double to you.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us get rid of every burden and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patient endurance the race that is laid out for us. ²Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal. In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne. ³Carefully consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinful people, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.

As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples ²and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. ³If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it, and he will send it back here without delay.’” 

⁴They left and found a colt on the street, tied at a door; and they untied it. ⁵Some who were standing there asked them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶The disciples answered them just as Jesus had instructed them, and the men let them go. 

⁷They brought the colt to Jesus, threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. ⁸Many people spread their garments on the road. Others spread branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹Those who went in front and those who followed were crying out, 

Hosanna! 

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 

¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! 

Hosanna in the highest! 

It was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the experts in the law were looking for some deceptive way to arrest Jesus and kill him. ²“Certainly not during the Festival,” they said, “or there will be a riot among the people.”

³While Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made from pure nard. She broke the alabaster jar and poured it over his head. ⁴But there were some who were indignant and said to one another, “Why has this perfume been wasted? ⁵Certainly this perfume could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor!” And they began to scold her.

⁶But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ⁷In fact, you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you are not always going to have me. ⁸She did what she could. She anointed my body beforehand for burial. ⁹Amen I tell you: Wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman did will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹When they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

¹²On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ¹³He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and there a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house that the Teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

¹⁶His disciples left and went into the city and found things just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷When it was evening, he arrived with the Twelve.

¹⁸While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Amen I tell you: One of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹They began to be sorrowful and said to him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping bread with me in the dish. ²¹Indeed, the Son of Man is going to go just as it has been written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

²²While they were eating, Jesus took bread. When he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “Take it. This is my body.”

²³Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. They all drank from it. ²⁴He said to them, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many. ²⁵Amen I tell you: I will certainly not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” ²⁶After they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me. For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ ²⁸But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

²⁹But Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”

³⁰Jesus said to him, “Amen I tell you: Today—this very night—before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

³¹But Peter kept saying emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.

³²They went to a place named Gethsemane. Jesus told his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” ³³Then he took Peter, James, and John along with him and began to be troubled and distressed. ³⁴He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.”

³⁵Going forward a little, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. ³⁶He also said, “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

³⁷When he returned to the disciples, he found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Were you not strong enough to keep watch for one hour? ³⁸Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

³⁹Again he went away and prayed, saying the same thing. ⁴⁰When he returned, he found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. They did not know what they should answer him. ⁴¹He returned the third time and said to them, “Are you going to continue sleeping and resting? It is enough. The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴²Rise, let us go. Look, my betrayer is near.”

⁴³Just then, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. A crowd was with him, armed with swords and clubs. They were from the chief priests, the experts in the law, and the elders. ⁴⁴Now his betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under guard.” ⁴⁵He went right to Jesus and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. ⁴⁶They laid hands on him and arrested him. ⁴⁷But one of those who stood nearby drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸Jesus responded by saying to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me as you would a criminal? ⁴⁹Day after day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But this happened so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.” ⁵⁰Then the disciples all left him and fled.

⁵¹A certain young man was following him, wearing just a linen cloth over his naked body. They seized him, ⁵²but he left behind the linen cloth and fled from them naked.

⁵³They led Jesus away to the high priest. All the chief priests, the elders, and the experts in the law gathered together. ⁵⁴Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. He was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire.

⁵⁵The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they did not find any. ⁵⁶Many testified falsely against him, but their testimonies did not agree. ⁵⁷Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ⁵⁸“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’ ” ⁵⁹Yet even on this point, their testimony did not agree.

⁶⁰The high priest stepped forward and questioned Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is this they are testifying against you?”

⁶¹But Jesus was silent and did not answer anything.

Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

⁶²“I am,” Jesus said. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

⁶³The high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we need any more witnesses? ⁶⁴You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?”

They all condemned him as being worthy of death. ⁶⁵Then some began to spit on him. They covered his face and struck him with their fists, saying, “Prophesy!” The guards also took him and beat him.

⁶⁶While Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the servant girls of the high priest came there. ⁶⁷When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked directly at him and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!”

⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, “I don’t know or understand what you are saying,” and he went out to the entryway. Then a rooster crowed.

⁶⁹When the servant girl saw him, once more she began to tell those standing there, “This is one of them.”

⁷⁰But again he denied it. After a little while those who were standing there said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, because you are a Galilean.”

⁷¹But he began to curse and to swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about!” ⁷²Just then, the rooster crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.

^15:1As soon as it was morning, the chief priests, along with the elders, the experts in the law, and the whole Sanhedrin, reached a decision. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

He answered him, “It is as you say.”

³The chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴Pilate questioned him again, “Are you not going to answer anything? See how many charges they are bringing against you!”

⁵But Jesus still did not answer anything, so Pilate was amazed.

⁶At each Festival, Pilate used to release to the people one prisoner whom they requested. ⁷There was one named Barabbas, who was imprisoned with the rebels and had committed murder in the rebellion. ⁸The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them what he usually did.

⁹Pilate replied, “Do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?” ¹⁰In fact, he knew that it was because of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.

¹²Again, Pilate replied to them, “Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³“Crucify him!” they shouted back.

¹⁴But Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵Since he wanted to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. After he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

¹⁶The soldiers led him away inside the palace, which is the Praetorium, and called together the whole cohort of soldiers. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on him, twisted together a crown of thorns, and put it on him. ¹⁸The soldiers began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They kept hitting him on the head with a reed and spitting on him. They also kneeled down to pay homage to him.

²⁰When they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothing on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

²¹A certain man, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and Rufus), was passing by on his way in from the country. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ²²They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means, “The place of a skull.” ²³They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴They crucified him. And they divided his garments, casting lots for them to decide what each of them would take.

²⁵Now it was the third hour when they crucified him. ²⁶The superscription stating the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” ²⁷They also crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁹Those who passed by ridiculed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰save yourself! Come down from the cross!”

³¹In the same way, the chief priests along with the experts in the law mocked him among themselves. “He saved others,” they said. “He cannot save himself. ³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross so that we may see and believe!”

Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.

³³When it was the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. ³⁴At the ninth hour Jesus shouted with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

³⁵When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah!”

³⁶Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. They said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

³⁷Jesus cried out with a loud voice and breathed his last. ³⁸The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he cried out and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹When he was in Galilee, they followed him and served him. Many other women also came up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²It was already evening, and since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), ⁴³Joseph from Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had been dead for a long time. ⁴⁵When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, and wrapped him in the linen cloth. He laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of rock, and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where the body was laid.

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take lambs for yourselves according to your family size, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²²You shall take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and paint the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you are to go out of the door of your house until morning. ²³When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

²⁴“You shall observe these instructions as a perpetual regulation for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land that the Lord will give you just as he said he would, you shall observe this ceremony. ²⁶So when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When he struck the Egyptians, he spared our houses.’ ”

The people bowed down and worshipped. ²⁸The Israelites went and did all this. They did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, even all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰During the night Pharaoh got up—he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians—and there was a loud outcry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone dead.

The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a communion of the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a communion of the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one bread, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ¹³He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and there a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house that the Teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

¹⁶His disciples left and went into the city and found things just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.

¹⁷When it was evening, he arrived with the Twelve.

¹⁸While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Amen I tell you: One of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹They began to be sorrowful and said to him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping bread with me in the dish. ²¹Indeed, the Son of Man is going to go just as it has been written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

²²While they were eating, Jesus took bread. When he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “Take it. This is my body.”

²³Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. They all drank from it. ²⁴He said to them, “This is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many. ²⁵Amen I tell you: I will certainly not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” ²⁶After they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

Look, my servant will succeed.

He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at him—

his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man,

and his form was disfigured more than any other person—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations,

and kings will shut their mouths because of him,

because they will see something they had never been told before,

and they will understand something they had never heard before.

^53:1Who has believed our report,

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

²He grew up before him like a tender shoot

and like a root from dry ground.

He had no attractiveness and no majesty.

When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

a man who knew grief,

who was well acquainted with suffering.

Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at,

he was despised,

and we thought nothing of him.

⁴Surely he was taking up our weaknesses,

and he was carrying our sufferings,

We thought it was because of God

that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted,

⁵but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.

He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶We all have gone astray like sheep.

Each of us has turned to his own way,

but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth.

Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that is silent in front of its shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

⁸He was taken away without a fair trial and without justice,

and of his generation, who even cared?

So, he was cut off from the land of the living.

He was struck because of the rebellion of my people.

⁹They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked,

but he was given a grave with the rich in his death,

because he had done no violence,

and no deceit was in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him

and allow him to suffer.

Because you made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring.

He will prolong his days,

and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.

¹¹After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life.

He will provide satisfaction.

Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many,

for he himself carried their guilt.

¹²Therefore I will give him an allotment among the great,

and with the strong he will share plunder,

because he poured out his life to death,

and he let himself be counted with rebellious sinners.

He himself carried the sin of many,

and he intercedes for the rebels.

This is certainly the kind of high priest we needed: one who is holy, innocent, pure, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. ²⁷Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices on a daily basis, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. In fact, he sacrificed for sins once and for all when he offered himself. ²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who have weaknesses. But the word of the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been brought to his goal forever.

¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

They divided my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

So the soldiers did these things.

²⁵Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.