54 And they took him, and led him away, and brought him to the house of the high priest. Peter followed from a distance.  55 And when they had made a fire in the midst of the court, and sat down together, Peter also sat down between them.  56 And a certain maidservant, seeing him sitting by the fire, and looking at him, said, "And this one was with him."  E-57 But he denied Him, saying to the woman, "I don't know Him."  58 And soon afterwards another, seeing him, said, 'Thou art also one of them.' But Peter said to the man, "No!  59 And after an hour of time passed, and there was still someone who insistently said, 'Surely this one was with him, for he is a Galilean.'  60 But Peter said to the man, 'I don't know what you say.' And immediately as he was still speaking, a crowed.  61 Then the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, 'Before the crows, you will deny me three times.'  62 And when he went out, he wept bitterly.

     63 The people who held Jesus mocked Him and beat Him;  64 and having shut him up, they smote him in the face, and asked him, 'Prophesy, who smote thee?'  65 And many other blasphemies were spoken against him.

     66 And when the day came, the elders of the people, and the chief priests, and the scribes, gathered together, and brought him into their Sanhedrin, 67 and said, Art thou the Christ? Tell us. He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe;  68 but if I ask you, you will not answer me, neither will you let me go.  69 From now on, the Son of Man will sit down at the right hand of the power of God.  70 And they all said, 'Are you therefore the Son of God?' He answered them, "You say that I am."  71 And they said, 'What more testimony do we need?' for we ourselves have heard from His mouth. 

23

     1 And all the multitude of them arose, and brought him before Pilate, 2 and began to accuse him, saying, 'We have found that he is corrupting our people, and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, calling himself Christ the King.'  3 Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And he answered and said unto him, Thou speakest.  4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the people, "I find no fault in this man."  5 But they insisted, saying that he was stirring up the people, teaching in all Judea, from Galilee to this place.  6 And when Pilate heard of Galileo, he said, 'Is he a Galilean?'  7 And when he knew that he was from the province of Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem in those days.  8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard much about him, and hoped to see some miracle from him, 9 and asked him many questions, but he answered him nothing.  10 And the chief priests and the scribes stood and accused him mightily.  11 But Herod and his soldiers, having despised him, and mocked him, clothed him in a bright garment, and sent him back to Pilate.  12 And on that day Pilate and Herod became friends with one another, for they had formerly been at enmity with one another.  13 And Pilate, having called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, 14 said to them, 'You have brought this man to me, as a perverter of the people; and behold, I have examined in your presence, and have not found this man guilty of any of the things of which you accuse him;  15 And Herod also, for I sent him to him; and nothing was found in Him worthy of death;  16 therefore, having punished him, I will let him go.  17 And it was necessary for him to release a prisoner to them for the feast.  18 But all the people began to cry out, 'Death to him!' but let Barabbas go to us.  19 Barabbas was put in prison for his rebellion and murder in the city.  20 Pilate raised his voice again, wanting to let Jesus go.  21 But they cried out, 'Crucify him, crucify him!'  22 And he said to them a third time, 'What evil has he done?' I found nothing worthy of death in Him; therefore, having punished him, I will let him go.  23 But they continued with a great cry to demand that He be crucified; and he prevailed over their cry and the chief priests.  24 And Pilate decided to be at their request, 25 and released him who had been put in prison for rebellion and murder, whom they had asked. and Jesus was delivered up to their will.

     26 And when they led him away, they took a certain Simon of Cyrene, who was coming out of the field, and laid a cross on him, that he might carry after Jesus.  27 And a great multitude of people and women followed him, weeping and weeping for him.  28 And Jesus turned to them, and said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem! Weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children, 29 for the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not born, and the breasts that have not nourished.'  30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills: cover us!  31 For if this is done to a verdant tree, what will happen to a dry one?

     32 And they led with him to death two evildoers.  33 And when they came to a place called Skull, there they crucified him and the evildoers, one on the right hand and the other on the left.  34 And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them! Forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they divided His garments, casting lots.  35 And the people stood and looked. And the rulers mocked with them, saying, "I saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ, the elect of God.  36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming and offering him vinegar, 37 saying, 'If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.'  38 And there was an inscription over him, written in Greek, Roman, and Hebrew words, This is the King of the Jews.  39 One of the hanged evildoers cursed Him, saying, 'If you are the Christ, save Yourself and us.'  40 And the other, on the contrary, rebuked him, and said, 'Do you not fear God, when you yourself are condemned to the same thing?'  41 and we are justly condemned, because we have received what is worthy according to our works, and he has done nothing evil.  42 And he said to Jesus, 'Remember me, O Lord, when you come into your kingdom.'  43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

     44 And it came to pass about the sixth hour of the day, and darkness fell over all the earth until the ninth hour: 45 and the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in the middle.  46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and said, "Father, forgive them! into Thy hands I commend My spirit. And having said this, he gave up his spirit.  47 And the centurion, when he saw what was happening, glorified God, and said, Truly this man was a righteous man.  48 And all the people who had come together to this spectacle, seeing what was happening, returned, beating their breasts.  49 And all those who knew him, and the women who followed him out of Galilee, stood afar off and looked at it.

     50 Then there was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and truthful man, 51 who had no part in the council and in their work; from Arimathea, a city of Judea, who was also waiting for the Kingdom of God, 52 came to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus;  53 And having taken him down, he wrapped him in a shroud, and laid him in a tomb hewn out of the rock, where no man had yet been laid.  54 That day was Friday, and the Sabbath was coming.  55 And the women that had come with Jesus from Galilee also followed, and looked at the tomb, and how his body was laid.  56 And when they returned, they prepared spices and ointments; and on the Sabbath they remained at rest according to the commandment. 

24

     1 And it came to pass, on the first day of the week, very early, carrying the spices which had been prepared, that they came to the sepulchre, and with them certain others;  2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  3 And when they went in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  4 And when they were perplexed about these things, suddenly there stood before them two men in shining garments.  5 And when they were afraid, and bent their faces to the ground, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?'  6 He is not here: He is risen; remember how He told you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinners, and be crucified, and rise again on the third day.  8 And they remembered his words;  9 And having returned from the tomb, they declared all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.  10 These were Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and others with them, who spoke of these things to the apostles.  11 And their words seemed vain to them, and they did not believe them.  12 But Peter arose, and ran to the sepulchre, and stooped down, and saw only the swaddling clothes lying there, and he went back, marveling within himself at what had happened.

     13 And on the same day two of them were going to a village sixty stades from Jerusalem, called Emmaus;  14 And they conversed among themselves concerning all these things.  15 And as they were talking and reasoning among themselves, Jesus himself drew nigh and went with them.  16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not recognize him.  17 And he said to them, 'What is this that ye are reasoning among yourselves, as ye go, and why are ye sorrowful?  18 And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Are thou one of them that have come to Jerusalem, knowest not the things that have taken place in it in these days?  19 And he said to them, 'Of what?' And they said unto him, What was the matter with Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people?  20 how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to condemn him to death, and crucified him.  21 And we hoped that he was the one who should deliver Israel; but with all this, it is already the third day since it happened.  22 But also some of our women amazed us: they were early at the sepulchre, 23 and did not find his body, and when they came, they said that they had seen also the appearance of angels, who said that he was alive.  24 And some of us went to the sepulchre, and found him, just as the women had spoken, but they did not see him.  25 Then he said to them, 'O foolish and slow in heart, to believe all that the prophets had foretold!  26 Was it not thus necessary for Christ to suffer, and to enter into his glory?  27 And beginning with Moses, of all the prophets, he explained to them the things which were spoken concerning him in all the Scriptures.  28 And they came nigh to the village to which they were going; and He showed them that He wanted to go on.  29 But they restrained him, saying, 'Stay with us, for the day has already turned towards evening.' And He went in and stayed with them.  30 And as he sat at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave it to them.  31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. But He became invisible to them.  32 And they said to one another, 'Did not our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us on the way, and when he explained the scriptures to us?'  33 And they arose at the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found together the eleven apostles and those who were with them, 34 who said that the Lord had truly risen and appeared to Simon.  35 And they told of what had happened on the way, and how he had been recognized by them in the breaking of bread.

    36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, 'Peace be unto you.'  37 And they were troubled and afraid, and thought they were seeing a spirit.  38 But he said to them, 'Why are you troubled, and why do such thoughts enter into your hearts?'  39 Look at my hands and at my feet; it is I Myself; touch Me and see; for the spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.  40 And when he had said these things, he showed them his hands and his feet.  41 And when they were not yet believing for joy, and were amazed, he said to them, 'Do you have any food here?'  42 And they gave him some of the baked fish and the honeycomb.  43 And he took it, and ate before them.  44 And he said to them, 'This is what I have told you while I was with you, that all that is written about me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and psalms, must be fulfilled.'  45 Then he opened their minds to the understanding of the Scriptures.  46 And he said unto them, 'Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day,47 and to be preached in his name for repentance and forgiveness of sins in all nations, beginning with Jerusalem.'  48 And ye are witnesses of this.  49 And I will send my Father's promise upon you; but you remain in the city of Jerusalem until you are endowed with power from on high.

     50 And he brought them out of the city as far as Bethany, and lifted up his hands, and blessed them.  51 And while he was blessing them, he began to depart from them, and ascend into heaven.  52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.  53 And they were always in the temple, glorifying and blessing God. Amen.