Psalms 56:5-6

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ¹ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ² 

56:6 They stalk ³  and lurk; ⁴ 

they watch my every step, ⁵ 

as ⁶  they prepare to take my life. ⁷ 

Mark 14:53-54

Condemned by the Sanhedrin

14:53 Then ⁸  they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and elders and experts in the law ⁹  came together. 14:54 And Peter had followed him from a distance, up to the high priest’s courtyard. He ¹⁰  was sitting with the guards ¹¹  and warming himself by the fire.

Luke 22:54-55

Jesus’ Condemnation and Peter’s Denials

22:54 Then ¹²  they arrested ¹³  Jesus, ¹⁴  led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. ¹⁵  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.

John 11:49

11:49 Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, ¹⁶  “You know nothing at all!

John 18:12-14

Jesus Before Annas

18:12 Then the squad of soldiers ¹⁷  with their commanding officer ¹⁸  and the officers of the Jewish leaders ¹⁹  arrested ²⁰  Jesus and tied him up. ²¹  18:13 They ²²  brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ²³  18:14 (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised ²⁴  the Jewish leaders ²⁵  that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.) ²⁶ 

John 18:24

18:24 Then Annas sent him, still tied up, ²⁷  to Caiaphas the high priest. ²⁸ 

[56:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ² tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[56:6]  ³ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ⁴ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[14:53]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[14:53]  ⁹ tn Or “and scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[14:54]  ¹⁰ tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[14:54]  ¹¹ sn The guards would have been the guards of the chief priests who had accompanied Judas to arrest Jesus.

[22:54]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[22:54]  ¹³ tn Or “seized” (L&N 37.109).

[22:54]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:54]  ¹⁵ sn 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.

[11:49]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “said to them.” The indirect object αὐτοῖς (autois) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[18:12]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “a cohort” (but since this was a unit of 600 soldiers, a smaller detachment is almost certainly intended).

[18:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “their chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militaris, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

[18:12]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, who were named as “chief priests and Pharisees” in John 18:3.

[18:12]  ²⁰ tn Or “seized.”

[18:12]  ²¹ tn Or “bound him.”

[18:13]  ²² tn Grk “up, and brought.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[18:13]  ²³ sn Jesus was taken first to Annas. Only the Gospel of John mentions this pretrial hearing before Annas, and that Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who is said to be high priest in that year. Caiaphas is also mentioned as being high priest in John 11:49. But in 18:15, 16, 19, and 22 Annas is called high priest. Annas is also referred to as high priest by Luke in Acts 4:6. Many scholars have dismissed these references as mistakes on the part of both Luke and John, but as mentioned above, John 11:49 and 18:13 indicate that John knew that Caiaphas was high priest in the year that Jesus was crucified. This has led others to suggest that Annas and Caiaphas shared the high priesthood, but there is no historical evidence to support this view. Annas had been high priest from a.d. 6 to a.d. 15 when he was deposed by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus (according to Josephus, Ant. 18.2.2 [18.34]). His five sons all eventually became high priests. The family was noted for its greed, wealth, and power. There are a number of ways the references in both Luke and John to Annas being high priest may be explained. Some Jews may have refused to recognize the changes in high priests effected by the Roman authorities, since according to the Torah the high priesthood was a lifetime office (Num 25:13). Another possibility is that it was simply customary to retain the title after a person had left the office as a courtesy, much as retired ambassadors are referred to as “Mr. Ambassador” or ex-presidents as “Mr. President.” Finally, the use of the title by Luke and John may simply be a reflection of the real power behind the high priesthood of the time: Although Annas no longer technically held the office, he may well have managed to control those relatives of his who did hold it from behind the scenes. In fact this seems most probable and would also explain why Jesus was brought to him immediately after his arrest for a sort of “pretrial hearing” before being sent on to the entire Sanhedrin.

[18:14]  ²⁴ tn Or “counseled.”

[18:14]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, specifically members of the Sanhedrin (see John 11:49-50). See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12.

[18:14]  ²⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[18:24]  ²⁷ tn Or “still bound.”

[18:24]  ²⁸ sn Where was Caiaphas the high priest located? Did he have a separate palace, or was he somewhere else with the Sanhedrin? Since Augustine (4th century) a number of scholars have proposed that Annas and Caiaphas resided in different wings of the same palace, which were bound together by a common courtyard through which Jesus would have been led as he was taken from Annas to Caiaphas. This seems a reasonable explanation, although there is no conclusive evidence.