Matthew 26:69-75

Peter’s Denials

26:69 Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A ¹  slave girl ²  came to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” 26:70 But he denied it in front of them all: ³  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” 26:71 When ⁴  he went out to the gateway, another slave girl ⁵  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 ⁶  a little while, those standing there came up to Peter and said, “You really are one of them too – even your accent ⁷  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. ⁸  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. ⁹ 

[26:69]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:69]  ² tn The Greek term here is παιδίσκη (paidiskh), referring to a slave girl or slave woman.

[26:70]  ³ tn Grk “he denied it…saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[26:71]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:71]  ⁵ tn The words “slave girl” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the feminine singular form ἄλλη (allh).

[26:73]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:73]  ⁷ tn Grk “your speech.”

[26:74]  ⁸ 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.

[26:75]  ⁹ 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.