Mark 14

₁It was 2 days before Passover and the Feast of the flat bread. The chief_priests and the teachers_of_the_Laws made plans in secret. They wanted to arrest Jesus and kill Him. ₂They said: ‘We must not kill Jesus on the Passover because the people will be angry and rebel.’

₃Jesus was eating in the house of Simon who had had leprosy. It was in the town of Bethany. A woman came to Him. She had a beautiful jar of expensive perfume. After breaking open the jar, she poured the perfume on Jesus' head. ₄Some of the people were upset because she did it. They said: ‘Why did she waste this expensive perfume? ₅If you sell this perfume, you can get more than 300 silver_coins. Then you can take the money and give it to poor people.’

They said bad things to the woman. ₆Then Jesus told them: ‘Do not say bad things to her. Why do you stop her? She has done a good thing for Me. ₇You will always have poor people with you. You can give them money when you want to, but I will not always be with you. ₈This woman did what she could do. She poured this perfume over Me to prepare my body before they bury Me. ₉I tell you this and it is sure: All over the world where people tell the Good_News, they will also talk about this woman and what she did. People will remember her.’

₁₀Judas Iscariot was one of the 12 disciples. He went to the chief_priests to betray Jesus. ₁₁When Judas told the chief_priests what he wanted to do, they were pleased and they promised to give Judas money. Then Judas started to look for the right time to betray Jesus.

₁₂On the first day of the Feast of the flat bread, when the people started to kill the lambs for the Passover, the disciples asked Jesus: ‘Where must we go to prepare the Passover meal for You?’ ₁₃Jesus sent 2 of his disciples and He told them: ‘Go into Jerusalem. A man with a water jar will come to you. Go with him. ₁₄He will go to a house and you must say to the owner of that house: “Sir, our Teacher wants to know where the room is where we can eat the Passover meal.” ₁₅The owner will show you a big room on the roof of his home. Everything that you will need for the meal will be there. You must prepare for Passover there.’

₁₆The disciples went into Jerusalem. Everything happened as Jesus had told them and they prepared the Passover meal. ₁₇That evening Jesus and the disciples went into the room. ₁₈They sat at the table and they started to eat. Then Jesus said: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: One of you that is eating with Me will betray Me.’ ₁₉The disciples were upset and sad. Each of the disciples asked Jesus: ‘Is it I?’ ₂₀Jesus told them: ‘It is one of the 12 disciples who eats with Me and puts his hand in the bowl with Me. ₂₁The Son of man will die as the prophets wrote about Me. But that man who betrays Me will suffer very much. It would have been better for him if he had never been born.’

₂₂While they were eating, Jesus took bread and He thanked God for it. He took the bread and He broke it into pieces and He gave it to his disciples. Then He said: ‘Take this bread. This is my body.’

₂₃Then Jesus took the cup of wine and He thanked God for it. He gave it to his disciples and they all drank from it. ₂₄Jesus said to them: ‘The wine in this cup is my blood. I will die, and my blood will flow to save many people. It is the blood of the covenant. ₂₅I tell you this and it is sure: I will not drink wine again until that day when I drink new wine where God is King.’

₂₆Jesus and his disciples sang a song and they praised the Lord. Then they went out to the Mount_of_Olives.

₂₇Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You will all run away and leave Me. The prophet Zechariah wrote:

₂₈But God will raise Me and let Me alive again and then I will go to the province of Galilee before you.’ ₂₉Peter said to Jesus: ‘I will never leave You. Maybe the other disciples will leave You but I will not.’ ₃₀Jesus said to him: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: You will say you don't know Me. You will say it 3 times tonight before the cock_crows the 2nd time.’

₃₁But Peter said again and again: ‘I will never say that I don't know You, even if I have to die with You.’ All the other disciples said the same.

₃₂Jesus and his disciples went to the Garden of Gethsemane and He said to them: ‘Sit here while I pray.’ ₃₃He took Peter, James and John with Him. Jesus was very upset and afraid. ₃₄He said to them: ‘I feel very sad. Stay here with Me and do not sleep.’

₃₅Jesus walked a little further and He knelt down with his face to the ground and He prayed and asked the Father that, if it was possible, the Father would save Him from the suffering that was coming. ₃₆He prayed and said: ‘Father, my Father, You can do anything that You want to do. Please take this suffering away from Me. Do not let Me drink this cup_of_suffering. But do what You want, not what I want.’

₃₇Jesus came back and He saw that the 3 disciples were sleeping. He asked Peter: ‘Simon, are you sleeping? Can't you stay awake for one hour? ₃₈You must be awake and pray that the devil will not tempt you. You want to do what is right but you are weak.’

₃₉Jesus went back and He prayed the same prayer. ₄₀When He came back, He saw that the 3 disciples were sleeping again. They could not keep their eyes open. They did not know what to say to Him. ₄₁When Jesus came back to them the 3rd time, Jesus said to them: ‘You must not sleep and rest now. You have slept enough. The time has come. They will now give the Son of man to sinners. ₄₂Stand up. We must go. The man who will betray Me is near.’

₄₃While Jesus was talking, Judas came to them. Judas was one of the 12 disciples. There were a lot of people with him. They had swords and sticks with them. The chief_priests and teachers_of_the_Laws and family leaders had sent them. ₄₄Judas betrayed Jesus. Before they came, Judas had told the people that he would kiss Jesus, then they would know who He was. Judas said they must arrest Him and tie Him and lead Him away.

₄₅Judas went to Jesus and he said to Him: ‘Teacher’, and then he kissed Jesus. ₄₆The people who were with Judas arrested Jesus. ₄₇One of the men who followed Jesus took out his sword and he cut the servant of the high-priest. He cut off his ear. ₄₈Jesus said: ‘Why did you bring swords and sticks with you to arrest Me? Do you think I am a robber? ₄₉I was in the temple with you every day. I taught the people and you did not arrest Me. But all of this must happen because it is written in the Old_Testament.’

₅₀Jesus' disciples did not stay with Him. They all ran away, and He was alone. ₅₁There was a young man who followed Jesus. He did not have clothes, just a piece_of_cloth around his body. The people grabbed him and tried to hold him ₅₂but he ran away naked, leaving the cloth with them.

₅₃They took Jesus to the home of the high-priest. Then the chief_priests, the family leaders and teachers_of_the_Laws came together. ₅₄Peter also went to the high-priest's house. He walked far behind the other people. He sat down with the guards by the fire and warmed himself.

₅₅The chief_priests and the Jewish_Council were looking for something to accuse Jesus of so that they could kill Him, but they did not find anything. ₅₆Some people told what He had done but they told lies and their stories were not the same. ₅₇Some of them stood up and told lies about Jesus. They said: ₅₈‘We heard Jesus say: “I will break down this temple that people have built and I will build a new temple, a temple that people can not build, in 3 days.” ’ ₅₉But even then their stories were not the same. ₆₀The high-priest stood up in the council and he asked Jesus: ‘Why don't You say something when they accuse You?’ ₆₁But Jesus did not say a word. He did not answer them. Then the high-priest asked Him: ‘Are You the Christ, the Son of the Most High God?’

₆₂Jesus said: ‘Yes, I am. And you will see Me, the Son of man, sitting at the most important place next to God, who rules over all, and you will see Me coming with the clouds.’

₆₃Then the high-priest tore his clothes and he said: ‘We have heard enough. ₆₄You have heard the wrong things He said about God. What do you think?’ Everyone said that Jesus was guilty and that they must kill Him. ₆₅Some of the men started to spit on Jesus. They covered his eyes and beat Him and said to Him: ‘Show us You are a prophet. Tell us who hit You.’

The guards took Jesus away and they also hit Him.

₆₆Peter was near the house of the high-priest. One of the girls who worked there came to them. ₆₇She saw Peter sitting by the fire to warm himself. She looked at Peter and then she said to him: ‘You were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’ ₆₈Peter said it was not_true. He said: ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’

Peter then went to the gate. A cock_crowed.

₆₉The girl saw Peter again and she said to all the people who stood there: ‘This man was one of Jesus' disciples.’ ₇₀But Peter said it was not_true. A little later the people who stood near Peter said: ‘You are really one of his disciples because you also come from Galilee.’

₇₁Peter started to curse himself and swear and he said: ‘You speak of this Man but I don't know Him. God is my Witness. He can punish me if I don't tell the truth.’

₇₂Then the cock_crowed the 2nd time and Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him. He had said: ‘You will say you don't know Me. You will say it 3 times before the cock crows twice.’