Mark 14:53--15:1

Condemned by the Sanhedrin

14:53 Then ¹  they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and elders and experts in the law ²  came together. 14:54 And Peter had followed him from a distance, up to the high priest’s courtyard. He ³  was sitting with the guards ⁴  and warming himself by the fire. 14:55 The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find anything. 14:56 Many gave false testimony against him, but their testimony did not agree. 14:57 Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: ⁵  14:58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands and in three days build another not made with hands.’” 14:59 Yet even on this point their testimony did not agree. 14:60 Then ⁶  the high priest stood up before them ⁷  and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?” 14:61 But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, ⁸  “Are you the Christ, ⁹  the Son of the Blessed One?” 14:62 “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand ¹⁰  of the Power ¹¹  and coming with the clouds of heaven.” ¹²  14:63 Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Why do we still need witnesses? 14:64 You have heard the blasphemy! What is your verdict?” ¹³  They all condemned him as deserving death. 14:65 Then ¹⁴  some began to spit on him, and to blindfold him, and to strike him with their fists, saying, “Prophesy!” The guards also took him and beat ¹⁵  him.

Peter’s Denials

14:66 Now ¹⁶  while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s slave girls ¹⁷  came by. 14:67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked directly at him and said, “You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus.” 14:68 But he denied it: ¹⁸  “I don’t even understand what you’re talking about!” ¹⁹  Then ²⁰  he went out to the gateway, and a rooster crowed. ²¹  14:69 When the slave girl saw him, she began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” 14:70 But he denied it again. A short time later the bystanders again said to Peter, “You must be ²²  one of them, because you are also a Galilean.” 14:71 Then he began to curse, and he swore with an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about!” 14:72 Immediately a rooster ²³  crowed a second time. Then ²⁴  Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept. ²⁵ 

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

15:1 Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders and the experts in the law ²⁶  and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²⁷ 

[14:53]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:53]  ² tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[14:54]  ³ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[14:54]  ⁴ sn The guards would have been the guards of the chief priests who had accompanied Judas to arrest Jesus.

[14:57]  ⁵ tn Grk “Some standing up gave false testimony against him, saying.”

[14:60]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:60]  ⁷ tn Grk “in the middle.”

[14:61]  ⁸ tn Grk “questioned him and said to him.”

[14:61]  ⁹ tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[14:62]  ¹⁰ 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.

[14:62]  ¹¹ 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.

[14:62]  ¹² sn An allusion to Dan 7:13.

[14:64]  ¹³ tn Grk “What do you think?”

[14:65]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:65]  ¹⁵ tn For the translation of ῥάπισμα (rJapisma), see L&N 19.4.

[14:66]  ¹⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[14:66]  ¹⁷ tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[14:68]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he denied it, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[14:68]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “I do not know or understand what you are saying.” In the translation this is taken as a hendiadys (a figure of speech where two terms express a single meaning, usually for emphatic reasons).

[14:68]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:68]  ²¹ tc Several important witnesses (א B L W Ψ* 579 892 2427 pc) lack the words “and a rooster crowed.” The fact that such good and early Alexandrian witnesses lack these words makes this textual problem difficult to decide, especially because the words receive support from other witnesses, some of which are fairly decent (A C D Θ Ψ^c 067 Ë^1,13 33 [1424] Ï lat). The omission could have been intentional on the part of some Alexandrian scribes who wished to bring this text in line with the other Gospel accounts that only mention a rooster crowing once (Matt 26:74; Luke 22:60; John 18:27). The insertion could be an attempt to make the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in 14:30 more explicit. Internally, the words “and a rooster crowed” fit Mark’s Gospel here, not only in view of 14:30, “before a rooster crows twice,” but also in view of the mention of “a second time” in 14:71 (a reading which is much more textually secure). Nevertheless, a decision is difficult.

[14:70]  ²² tn Grk “Truly you are.”

[14:72]  ²³ tn This occurrence of the word ἀλέκτωρ (alektwr, “rooster”) is anarthrous and consequently may not point back explicitly to the rooster which had crowed previously in v. 68. The reason for the anarthrous construction is most likely to indicate generically that some rooster crowed. Further, the translation of ἀλέκτωρ as an indefinite noun retains the subtlety of the Greek in only hinting at the Lord’s prediction v. 30. See also NAB, TEV, NASB.

[14:72]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:72]  ²⁵ tn Grk “he wept deeply.”

[15:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[15:1]  ²⁷ sn The Jews most assuredly wanted to put Jesus to death, but they lacked the authority to do so. For this reason they handed him over to Pilate in hopes of securing a death sentence. The Romans kept close control of the death penalty in conquered territories to prevent it being used to execute Roman sympathizers.