Discovery BoxMatthew 26:57--27:26
Context26:57 Now the ones who had arrested Jesus led him to Caiaphas, the high priest, in whose house 1 the experts in the law 2 and the elders had gathered. 26:58 But Peter was following him from a distance, all the way to the high priest’s courtyard. After 3 going in, he sat with the guards 4 to see the outcome. 26:59 The 5 chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 26:60 But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally 6 two came forward 26:61 and declared, “This man 7 said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’” 26:62 So 8 the high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that they are testifying against you?” 26:63 But Jesus was silent. The 9 high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, 10 the Son of God.” 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 11 of the Power 12 and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 13 26:65 Then the high priest tore his clothes and declared, 14 “He has blasphemed! Why do we still need witnesses? Now 15 you have heard the blasphemy! 26:66 What is your verdict?” 16 They 17 answered, “He is guilty and deserves 18 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! 19 Who hit you?” 20
26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A 21 slave girl 22 came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 26:70 But he denied it in front of them all: 23 “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 26:71 When 24 he went out to the gateway, another slave girl 25 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 26 a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too – even your accent 27 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. 28 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. 29
27:1 When 30 it was early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people plotted against Jesus to execute him. 27:2 They 31 tied him up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate 32 the governor. 33
27:3 Now when 34 Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus 35 had been condemned, he regretted what he had done and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders, 27:4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? You take care of it yourself!” 27:5 So 36 Judas threw the silver coins into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself. 27:6 The 37 chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.” 27:7 After 38 consulting together they bought the Potter’s Field with it, as a burial place for foreigners. 27:8 For this reason that field has been called the “Field of Blood” to this day. 27:9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah 39 the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price of the one whose price had been set by the people of Israel, 40 27:10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” 41
27:11 Then 42 Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, 43 “Are you the king 44 of the Jews?” Jesus 45 said, “You say so.” 46 27:12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond. 27:13 Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many charges they are bringing against you?” 27:14 But he did not answer even one accusation, so that the governor was quite amazed.
27:15 During the feast the governor was accustomed to release one prisoner to the crowd, 47 whomever they wanted. 27:16 At that time they had in custody a notorious prisoner named Jesus 48 Barabbas. 27:17 So after they had assembled, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus 49 Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?” 50 27:18 (For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) 51 27:19 As 52 he was sitting on the judgment seat, 53 his wife sent a message 54 to him: 55 “Have nothing to do with that innocent man; 56 I have suffered greatly as a result of a dream 57 about him today.” 27:20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. 27:21 The 58 governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas!” 27:22 Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” 59 They all said, “Crucify him!” 60 27:23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”
27:24 When 61 Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” 62 27:25 In 63 reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 27:26 Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, 64 he handed him over 65 to be crucified. 66
[26:57] 2 tn Or “where the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
[26:58] 3 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[26:58] 4 sn The guards would have been the guards of the chief priests who had accompanied Judas to arrest Jesus.
[26:59] 5 tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[26:60] 6 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[26:62] 8 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the false testimony.
[26:63] 9 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[26:63] 10 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
[26:64] 11 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.
[26:64] 12 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.
[26:64] 13 sn An allusion to Dan 7:13 (see also Matt 24:30).
[26:65] 14 tn Grk “the high priest tore his clothes, saying.”
[26:65] 15 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).
[26:66] 16 tn Grk “What do you think?”
[26:66] 17 tn Grk “answering, they said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[26:66] 18 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.”
[26:68] 19 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
[26:68] 20 tn Grk “Who is the one who hit you?”
[26:69] 21 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[26:69] 22 tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.
[26:70] 23 tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.
[26:71] 24 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[26:71] 25 tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).
[26:73] 26 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[26:73] 27 tn Grk “your speech.”
[26:74] 28 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
[26:75] 29 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.
[27:1] 30 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:2] 31 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
[27:2] 32 tc Most
[27:2] 33 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 from being used to execute Roman sympathizers.
[27:3] 34 tn Grk “Then when.” Here τότε (tote) has been translated as “now” to indicate a somewhat parenthetical interlude in the sequence of events.
[27:3] 35 tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[27:5] 36 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the leaders’ response to Judas.
[27:6] 37 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:7] 38 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:9] 39 tc The problematic citing of Jeremiah for a text which appears to come from Zechariah has prompted certain scribes to alter it. Codex 22 has Ζαχαρίου (Zacariou, “Zechariah”) while Φ 33 omit the prophet’s name altogether. And codex 21 and the Latin ms l change the prophet’s name to “Isaiah,” in accordance with natural scribal proclivities to alter the text toward the most prominent OT prophet. But unquestionably the name Jeremiah is the wording of the original here, because it is supported by virtually all witnesses and because it is the harder reading. See D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” EBC 8:562-63, for a discussion of the textual and especially hermeneutical problem.
[27:9] 40 tn Grk “the sons of Israel,” an idiom referring to the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (L&N 11.58).
[27:10] 41 sn The source of this citation is debated (see the tc note on Jeremiah in v. 9 above for a related discussion). The quotation is most closely related to Zech 11:12-13, but the reference to Jeremiah in v. 9 as the source leads one to look there as well. There is no exact match for this text in Jeremiah, but there are some conceptual parallels: In Jer 18:2-6 the prophet visits a potter, and in Jer 32:6-15 he buys a field. D. A. Carson argues that Jer 19:1-13 is the source of the quotation augmented with various phrases drawn from Zech 11:12-13 (“Matthew,” EBC 8:563). W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison argue that the reference to Jeremiah is not meant to refer to one specific text from that prophet, but instead to signal that his writings as a whole are a source from which the quotation is drawn (Matthew [ICC], 3:568-69). Although the exact source of the citation is uncertain, it is reasonable to see texts from the books of Jeremiah and Zechariah both coming into play here.
[27:11] 42 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
[27:11] 43 tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
[27:11] 44 sn “Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate was interested in this charge because of its political implications of sedition against Rome.
[27:11] 45 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:11] 46 sn The reply “You say so” is somewhat enigmatic, like Jesus’ earlier reply to the Jewish leadership in 26:64.
[27:15] 47 sn The custom of Pilate to release one prisoner is unknown outside the gospels in Jewish writings, but it was a Roman custom at the time and thus probably used in Palestine as well (cf. Matt 27:15; John 18:39).
[27:16] 48 tc Although the external evidence for the inclusion of “Jesus” before “Barabbas” (in vv. 16 and 17) is rather sparse, being restricted virtually to the Caesarean text (Θ Ë1 700* pc sys), the omission of the Lord’s name in apposition to “Barabbas” is such a strongly motivated reading that it can hardly be original. There is no good explanation for a scribe unintentionally adding ᾿Ιησοῦν (Ihsoun) before Βαραββᾶν (Barabban), especially since Barabbas is mentioned first in each verse (thus dittography is ruled out). Further, the addition of τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστόν (ton legomenon Criston, “who is called Christ”) to ᾿Ιησοῦν in v. 17 makes better sense if Barabbas is also called “Jesus” (otherwise, a mere “Jesus” would have been a sufficient appellation to distinguish the two).
[27:17] 49 tc Again, as in v. 16, the name “Jesus” is supplied before “Barabbas” in Θ Ë1 700* pc sys Ormss (Θ 700* lack the article τόν [ton] before Βαραββᾶν [Barabban]). The same argument for accepting the inclusion of “Jesus” as original in the previous verse applies here as well.
[27:17] 50 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
[27:18] 51 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
[27:19] 52 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:19] 53 tn Or “the judge’s seat.”
[27:19] 54 tn The word “message” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
[27:19] 55 tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.
[27:19] 56 tn The Greek particle γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated here.
[27:19] 57 tn Or “suffered greatly in a dream.” See the discussion on the construction κατ᾿ ὄναρ (kat’ onar) in BDAG 710 s.v. ὄναρ.
[27:21] 58 tn Grk “answering, the governor said to them.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:22] 59 tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
[27:22] 60 tn Grk “Him – be crucified!” The third person imperative is difficult to translate because English has no corresponding third person form for the imperative. The traditional translation “Let him be crucified” sounds as if the crowd is giving consent or permission. “He must be crucified” is closer, but it is more natural in English to convert the passive to active and simply say “Crucify him.”
[27:24] 61 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
[27:24] 62 sn You take care of it yourselves! Compare the response of the chief priests and elders to Judas in 27:4. The expression is identical except that in 27:4 it is singular and here it is plural.
[27:25] 63 tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.
[27:26] 64 tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (fragellow) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”
