Mark 14:1-26

Contemporary English Version

A Plot To Kill Jesus

(Matthew 26.1-5; Luke 22.1,2; John 11.45-53)

14 ^(A) It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread. The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses were planning how they could sneak around and have Jesus arrested and put to death. ² They were saying, “We must not do it during the festival, because the people will riot.”

At Bethany

(Matthew 26.6-13; John 12.1-8)

^3 (B) Jesus was eating in Bethany at the home of Simon, who once had leprosy,^[a] when a woman came in with a very expensive bottle of sweet-smelling perfume.^[b] After breaking it open, she poured the perfume on Jesus' head. ⁴ This made some of the guests angry, and they complained, “Why such a waste? ⁵ We could have sold this perfume for more than 300 silver coins and given the money to the poor!” So they started saying cruel things to the woman.

⁶ But Jesus said:

Leave her alone! Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ^7 (C) You will always have the poor with you. And whenever you want to, you can give to them. But you won't always have me here with you. ⁸ She has done all she could by pouring perfume on my body to prepare it for burial. ⁹ You may be sure that wherever the good news is told all over the world, people will remember what she has done. And they will tell others.

Judas and the Chief Priests

(Matthew 26.14-16; Luke 22.3-6)

¹⁰ Judas Iscariot^[c] was one of the twelve disciples. He went to the chief priests and offered to help them arrest Jesus. ¹¹ They were glad to hear this, and they promised to pay him. So Judas started looking for a good chance to betray Jesus.

Jesus Eats with His Disciples

(Matthew 26.17-25; Luke 22.7-14,21-23; John 13.21-30)

¹² It was the first day of the Festival of Thin Bread, and the Passover lambs were being killed. Jesus' disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal?”

¹³ Jesus said to two of the disciples, “Go into the city, where you will meet a man carrying a jar of water.^[d] Follow him, ¹⁴ and when he goes into a house, say to the owner, ‘Our teacher wants to know if you have a room where he can eat the Passover meal with his disciples.’ ¹⁵ The owner will take you upstairs and show you a large room furnished and ready for you to use. Prepare the meal there.”

¹⁶ The two disciples went into the city and found everything just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover meal.

^17-18 (D) While Jesus and the twelve disciples were eating together that evening, he said, “The one who will betray me is now eating with me.”

¹⁹ This made the disciples sad, and one after another they said to Jesus, “You surely don't mean me!”

²⁰ He answered, “It is one of you twelve men who is eating from this dish with me. ²¹ The Son of Man will die, just as the Scriptures say. But it is going to be terrible for the one who betrays me. That man would be better off if he had never been born.”

The Lord's Supper

(Matthew 26.26-30; Luke 22.14-23; 1 Corinthians 11.23-25)

²² During the meal Jesus took some bread in his hands. He blessed the bread and broke it. Then he gave it to his disciples and said, “Take this. It is my body.”

²³ Jesus picked up a cup of wine and gave thanks to God. He gave it to his disciples, and they all drank some. ^24 (E) Then he said, “This is my blood, which is poured out for many people, and with it God makes his agreement. ²⁵ From now on I will not drink any wine, until I drink new wine in God's kingdom.” ²⁶ Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.