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Matthew 27 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Judas Hangs Himself
(Mar 15:1; Luk 23:1; Jhn 18:28 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:1 - Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:2 - Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
(Act 1:18, 19 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:3 - When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:4 - “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”
“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:5 - Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:6 - The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:7 - After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:8 - That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:9 - This fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah that says,
“They took[fn] the thirty pieces of silver—
the price at which he was valued by the people of Israel,
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:10 - and purchased the potter’s field,
as the LORD directed.[fn]
Jesus’ Trial before Pilate
(Mar 15:2–5; Luk 23:2–5; Jhn 18:29–38 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:11 - Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him.
Jesus replied, “You have said it.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:12 - But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:13 - “Don’t you hear all these charges they are bringing against you?” Pilate demanded.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:14 - But Jesus made no response to any of the charges, much to the governor’s surprise.
(Mar 15:6–15; Luk 23:13–25; Jhn 18:39, 40 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:15 - Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner to the crowd—anyone they wanted.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:16 - This year there was a notorious prisoner, a man named Barabbas.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:17 - As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:18 - (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy.)
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:19 - Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:20 - Meanwhile, the leading priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas to be released and for Jesus to be put to death.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:21 - So the governor asked again, “Which of these two do you want me to release to you?”
The crowd shouted back, “Barabbas!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:22 - Pilate responded, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”
They shouted back, “Crucify him!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:23 - “Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”
But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:24 - Pilate saw that he wasn’t getting anywhere and that a riot was developing. So he sent for a bowl of water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. The responsibility is yours!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:25 - And all the people yelled back, “We will take responsibility for his death—we and our children!”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:26 - So Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
(Mar 15:16–20 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:27 - Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters[fn] and called out the entire regiment.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:28 - They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:29 - They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:30 - And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:31 - When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.
The Crucifixion
(Mar 15:21–32; Luk 23:26–43; Jhn 19:17–27 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:32 - Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene,[fn] and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:33 - And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:34 - The soldiers gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:35 - After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:36 - Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:37 - A sign was fastened above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. It read: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:38 - Two revolutionaries[fn] were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:39 - The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:40 - “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:41 - The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:42 - “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him!
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:43 - He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:44 - Even the revolutionaries who were crucified with him ridiculed him in the same way.
The Death of Jesus
(Mar 15:33–41; Luk 23:44–49; Jhn 19:28–30 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:45 - At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:46 - At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli,[fn] lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:47 - Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:48 - One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:49 - But the rest said, “Wait! Let’s see whether Elijah comes to save him.”[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:50 - Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:51 - At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart,
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:52 - and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:53 - They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:54 - The Roman officer[fn] and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:55 - And many women who had come from Galilee with Jesus to care for him were watching from a distance.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:56 - Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James and Joseph), and the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
The Burial of Jesus
(Mar 15:42–47; Luk 23:50–56; Jhn 19:38–42 )
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:57 - As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus,
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:58 - went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:59 - Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:60 - He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:61 - Both Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb and watching.
The Guard at the Tomb
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:62 - The next day, on the Sabbath,[fn] the leading priests and Pharisees went to see Pilate.
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:63 - They told him, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver once said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise from the dead.’
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:64 - So we request that you seal the tomb until the third day. This will prevent his disciples from coming and stealing his body and then telling everyone he was raised from the dead! If that happens, we’ll be worse off than we were at first.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:65 - Pilate replied, “Take guards and secure it the best you can.”
Unchecked Copy BoxMat 27:66 - So they sealed the tomb and posted guards to protect it.
NLT Footnotes
Greek since it is the price for blood.
Or I took.
Greek as the LORD directed me. Zech 11:12-13; Jer 32:6-9.
Greek as the LORD directed me. Zech 11:12-13; Jer 32:6-9.
Some manuscripts read Jesus Barabbas; also in 27:17.
Greek “His blood be on us and on our children.”
Or into the Praetorium.
Cyrene was a city in northern Africa.
Greek by casting lots. A few late manuscripts add This fulfilled the word of the prophet: “They divided my garments among themselves and cast lots for my robe.” See Ps 22:18.
Or criminals; also in 27:44.
Some manuscripts read Eloi, Eloi.
Ps 22:1.
Some manuscripts add And another took a spear and pierced his side, and out flowed water and blood. Compare John 19:34.
Greek The centurion.
Or On the next day, which is after the Preparation.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

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For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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