Matthew 26:31

The Prediction of Peter’s Denial

26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written:

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ¹ 

Luke 22:31-32

22:31 “Simon, ²  Simon, pay attention! ³  Satan has demanded to have you all, ⁴  to sift you like wheat, ⁵  22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, ⁶  that your faith may not fail. ⁷  When ⁸  you have turned back, ⁹  strengthen ¹⁰  your brothers.”

John 16:1

16:1 “I have told you all these things so that you will not fall away. ¹¹ 

John 16:32

16:32 Look, a time ¹²  is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, ¹³  and I will be left alone. ¹⁴  Yet ¹⁵  I am not alone, because my Father ¹⁶  is with me.

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ¹⁷  the synagogue, ¹⁸  yet a time ¹⁹  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ²⁰ 

John 4:16

4:16 He ²¹  said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.” ²² 

[26:31]  ¹ sn A quotation from Zech 13:7.

[22:31]  ² tc The majority of mss (א A D W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï as well as several versional witnesses) begin this verse with an introductory comment, “and the Lord said,” indicating a change in the subject of discussion. But this is apparently a reading motivated by the need for clarity. Some of the best witnesses, along with a few others (Ì⁷⁵ B L T 1241 2542^c sy^s co), do not contain these words. The abrupt shift is the more difficult reading and thus more likely to be original.

[22:31]  ³ tn Grk “behold” (for “pay attention” see L&N 91.13).

[22:31]  ⁴ sn This pronoun is plural in the Greek text, so it refers to all the disciples of which Peter is the representative.

[22:31]  ⁵ sn Satan has demanded permission to put them to the test. The idiom “sift (someone) like wheat” is similar to the English idiom “to pick (someone) apart.” The pronoun you is implied.

[22:32]  ⁶ sn Here and in the remainder of the verse the second person pronouns are singular, so only Peter is in view. The name “Simon” has been supplied as a form of direct address to make this clear in English.

[22:32]  ⁷ sn That your faith may not fail. Note that Peter’s denials are pictured here as lapses, not as a total absence of faith.

[22:32]  ⁸ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[22:32]  ⁹ tn Or “turned around.”

[22:32]  ¹⁰ sn Strengthen your brothers refers to Peter helping to strengthen their faith. Jesus quite graciously restores Peter “in advance,” even with the knowledge of his approaching denials.

[16:1]  ¹¹ tn Grk “so that you will not be caused to stumble.”

[16:32]  ¹² tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:32]  ¹³ tn Grk “each one to his own”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text but is implied. The phrase “each one to his own” may be completed in a number of different ways: “each one to his own property”; “each one to his own family”; or “each one to his own home.” The last option seems to fit most easily into the context and so is used in the translation.

[16:32]  ¹⁴ sn The proof of Jesus’ negative evaluation of the disciples’ faith is now given: Jesus foretells their abandonment of him at his arrest, trials, and crucifixion (I will be left alone). This parallels the synoptic accounts in Matt 26:31 and Mark 14:27 when Jesus, after the last supper and on the way to Gethsemane, foretold the desertion of the disciples as a fulfillment of Zech 13:7: “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.” Yet although the disciples would abandon Jesus, he reaffirmed that he was not alone, because the Father was still with him.

[16:32]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And” (but with some contrastive force).

[16:32]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the Father.”

[16:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ²⁰ sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[4:16]  ²¹ tc Most witnesses have “Jesus” here, either with the article (א^c C² D L W^s Ψ 086 Ï lat) or without (א* A Θ Ë^1,13 al), while several important and early witnesses lack the name (Ì^66,75 B C* 33^vid pc). It is unlikely that scribes would have deliberately expunged the name of Jesus from the text here, especially since it aids the reader with the flow of the dialogue. Further, that the name occurs both anarthrously and with the article suggests that it was a later addition. (For similar arguments, see the tc note on “woman” in 4:11).

[4:16]  ²² tn Grk “come here” (“back” is implied).