Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away, and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a covert way to arrest Jesus and kill Him.
Parallel translations
- WEB It was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him.
- KJV After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death.
- NKJV After two days it was the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take Him by trickery and put Him to death.
- NASB Now the Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread were two days away; and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest Him covertly and kill Him;
- NLT It was now two days before Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The leading priests and the teachers of religious law were still looking for an opportunity to capture Jesus secretly and kill him.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Two days before Passover, the chief priests and scribes plot to seize and kill Jesus by stealth. The plan to crucify the Lamb of God is underway.
Overview
As Passover approached — the feast commemorating Israel's redemption from Egypt — the leaders schemed against the one who would become the true Passover Lamb. Their secret plotting fulfills the long-foretold rejection of the Messiah. Yet even their wicked design served God's saving plan, for through this conspiracy the sacrifice for the world's sin would be accomplished (Acts 2:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Luke 22:1–2Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,
- Exod 12:6–20You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
- John 13:1It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end.
- Deut 16:1–8Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
- Acts 4:25–28You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Lev 23:5–7The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
- Num 28:16–25The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.
- John 11:53–57So from that day on they plotted to kill Him.
- Ps 62:4They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch; they delight in lies; with their mouths they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah
- John 11:47Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
- Matt 12:14But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
- Matt 26:2–5“You know that the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
- Ps 64:2–6Hide me from the scheming of the wicked, from the mob of workers of iniquity,
- Ps 2:1–5Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Ps 52:3You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking truth. Selah
- Matt 6:2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.
- Ps 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
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Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 14:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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