Luke 22:54-71

Context

Jesus’ Condemnation and Peter’s Denials

22:54 Then¹ they arrested² Jesus,³ led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house.⁴ But Peter was following at a distance. 22:55 When they had made a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 22:56 Then a slave girl,⁵ seeing him as he sat in the firelight, stared at him and said, “This man was with him too!” 22:57 But Peter⁶ denied it: “Woman,⁷ I don’t know⁸ him!” 22:58 Then⁹ a little later someone else¹⁰ saw him and said, “You are one of them too.” But Peter said, “Man,¹¹ I am not!” 22:59 And after about an hour still another insisted,¹² “Certainly this man was with him, because he too is a Galilean.”¹³ 22:60 But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” At that moment,¹⁴ while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.¹⁵ 22:61 Then¹⁶ the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord,¹⁷ how he had said to him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 22:62 And he went outside and wept bitterly.¹⁸

22:63 Now¹⁹ the men who were holding Jesus²⁰ under guard began to mock him and beat him. 22:64 They²¹ blindfolded him and asked him repeatedly,²² “Prophesy! Who hit you?”²³ 22:65 They also said many other things against him, reviling²⁴ him.

22:66 When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law.²⁵ Then²⁶ they led Jesus²⁷ away to their council²⁸ 22:67 and said, “If²⁹ you are the Christ,³⁰ tell us.” But he said to them, “If³¹ I tell you, you will not³² believe, 22:68 and if³³ I ask you, you will not³⁴ answer. 22:69 But from now on³⁵ the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand³⁶ of the power³⁷ of God.” 22:70 So³⁸ they all said, “Are you the Son of God,³⁹ then?” He answered⁴⁰ them, “You say⁴¹ that I am.” 22:71 Then⁴² they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves⁴³ from his own lips!”⁴⁴

[22:54] ¹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:54] ²tn Or “seized” (L&N 37.109).

[22:54] ³tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:54] ⁴sn Putting all the gospel accounts together, there is a brief encounter with Annas (brought him into the high priest’s house, here and John 18:13, where Annas is named); the meeting led by Caiaphas (Matt 26:57-68 = Mark 14:53-65; and then a Sanhedrin meeting (Matt 27:1; Mark 15:1; Luke 22:66-71). These latter two meetings might be connected and apparently went into the morning.

[22:56] ⁵tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[22:57] ⁶tn Grk “he denied it, saying.” The referent (Peter) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant and has not been translated.

[22:57] ⁷sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions.

[22:57] ⁸sn The expression “I do not know him” had an idiomatic use in Jewish ban formulas in the synagogue and could mean, “I have nothing to do with him.”

[22:58] ⁹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:58] ¹⁰sn In Mark 14:69, the same slave girl made the charge. So apparently Peter was being identified by a variety of people.

[22:58] ¹¹tn Here and in v. 60 “Man” is used as a neutral form of address to a stranger.

[22:59] ¹²tn Grk “insisted, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

[22:59] ¹³sn According to Mark 14:70 it was Peter’s accent that gave him away as a Galilean.

[22:60] ¹⁴tn Grk “And immediately.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:60] ¹⁵tn A real rooster crowing is probably in view here (rather than the Roman trumpet call known as gallicinium), in part due to the fact that Mark 14:72 mentions the rooster crowing twice. See the discussion at Matt 26:74.

[22:61] ¹⁶tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:61] ¹⁷tn “The word of the Lord” is a technical expression in OT literature, often referring to a divine prophetic utterance (e.g., Gen 15:1, Isa 1:10, Jonah 1:1). In the NT it occurs 15 times: 3 times as ῥῆμα τοῦ κυρίου (rJhma tou kuriou; here and in Acts 11:16, 1 Pet 1:25) and 12 times as λόγος τοῦ κυρίου (logo" tou kuriou; Acts 8:25; 13:44, 48, 49; 15:35, 36; 16:32; 19:10, 20; 1 Thess 1:8, 4:15; 2 Thess 3:1). As in the OT, this phrase focuses on the prophetic nature and divine origin of what has been said. Because of its technical nature the expression has been retained in the translation in preference to a smoother rendering like “remembered what the Lord had said” (cf. TEV, NLT).

[22:62] ¹⁸sn When Peter went out and wept bitterly it shows he really did not want to fail here and was deeply grieved that he had.

[22:63] ¹⁹tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[22:63] ²⁰tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:64] ²¹tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:64] ²²tn The verb ἐπηρώτων (ephrwtwn) has been translated as an iterative imperfect. The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated here.

[22:64] ²³tn Grk “Who is the one who hit you?”

[22:65] ²⁴tn Or “insulting.” Luke uses a strong word here; it means “to revile, to defame, to blaspheme” (L&N 33.400).

[22:66] ²⁵tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[22:66] ²⁶tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:66] ²⁷tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:66] ²⁸sn Their council is probably a reference to the Jewish Sanhedrin, the council of seventy leaders.

[22:67] ²⁹tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[22:67] ³⁰tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[22:67] ³¹tn This is a third class condition in the Greek text. Jesus had this experience already in 20:1-8.

[22:67] ³²tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:68] ³³tn This is also a third class condition in the Greek text.

[22:68] ³⁴tn The negation in the Greek text is the strongest possible (οὐ μή, ou mh).

[22:69] ³⁵sn From now on. Jesus’ authority was taken up from this moment on. Ironically he is now the ultimate judge, who is himself being judged.

[22:69] ³⁶sn Seated at the right hand is an allusion to Ps 110:1 (“Sit at my right hand…”) and 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.

[22:69] ³⁷sn The expression the right hand of the power of God 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.

[22:70] ³⁸tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of Jesus’ pronouncement.

[22:70] ³⁹sn The members of the council understood the force of the claim and asked Jesus about another title, Son of God.

[22:70] ⁴⁰tn Grk “He said to them.”

[22:70] ⁴¹sn Jesus’ reply, “You say that I am,” was not a denial, but a way of giving a qualified positive response: “You have said it, but I do not quite mean what you think.”

[22:71] ⁴²tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:71] ⁴³sn We have heard it ourselves. The Sanhedrin regarded the answer as convicting Jesus. They saw it as blasphemous to claim such intimacy and shared authority with God, a claim so serious and convicting that no further testimony was needed.

[22:71] ⁴⁴tn Grk “from his own mouth” (an idiom).