Text -- Matthew 26:64-75 (NET)

26:64 Jesus 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 the Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Now you have heard the blasphemy! 26:66 What is your verdict?” They answered, “He is guilty and deserves death.” 26:67 Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists. And some slapped him, 26:68 saying, “Prophesy for us, you Christ! Who hit you?”

Peter’s Denials

26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A slave girl came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 26:70 But he denied it in front of them all: “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 26:71 When he went out to the gateway, another slave girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.” 26:72 He denied it again with an oath, “I do not know the man!” 26:73 After a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too– even your accent gives you away!” 26:74 At that he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know the man!” At that moment a rooster crowed. 26:75 Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mat 26:64

¹ sn An allusion to Ps 110:1. This is a claim that Jesus shares authority with God in heaven. Those present may have thought they were his judges, but, in fact, the reverse was true.

² sn The expression the right hand of the Power is a circumlocution for referring to God. Such indirect references to God were common in 1st century Judaism out of reverence for the divine name.

³ sn An allusion to Dan 7:13 (see also Matt 24:30).

NET Notes: Mat 26:65

¹ tn Grk “the high priest tore his clothes, saying.”

² tn Grk “Behold now.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

NET Notes: Mat 26:66

¹ tn Grk “What do you think?”

² tn Grk “answering, they said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

³ tn Grk “he is guilty of death.” L&N 88.313 states, “pertaining to being guilty and thus deserving some particular penalty – ‘guilty and deserving, guilty and punishable by.’ οἱ δὲ ἀποκριθέντες εἶπαν, ᾿Ενοχος θανάτου ἐστίν ‘they answered, He is guilty and deserves death’ Mt 26:66.”

NET Notes: Mat 26:68

¹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

sn See the note on Christ in 1:16.

² tn Grk “Who is the one who hit you?”

sn Who hit you? This is a variation of one of three ancient games that involved blindfolds.

NET Notes: Mat 26:69

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

² tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

NET Notes: Mat 26:70

¹ tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

NET Notes: Mat 26:71

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).

NET Notes: Mat 26:73

¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

² tn Grk “your speech.”

NET Notes: Mat 26:74

¹ tn It seems most likely that this refers to a real rooster crowing, although a number of scholars have suggested that “cockcrow” is a technical term referring to the trumpet call which ended the third watch of the night (from midnight to 3 a.m.). This would then be a reference to the Roman gallicinium (ἀλεκτοροφωνία, alektorofwnia; the term is used in Mark 13:35 and is found in some mss [Ì^37vid,45 ˹] in Matt 26:34) which would have been sounded at 3 a.m.; in this case Jesus would have prophesied a precise time by which the denials would have taken place. For more details see J. H. Bernard, St. John (ICC), 2:604. However, in light of the fact that Mark mentions the rooster crowing twice (Mark 14:72) and in Luke 22:60 the words are reversed (ἐφώνησεν ἀλέκτωρ, efwnhsen alektwr), it is more probable that a real rooster is in view. In any event natural cockcrow would have occurred at approximately 3 a.m. in Palestine at this time of year (March-April) anyway.

NET Notes: Mat 26:75

¹ sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.