Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find witnesses who would lie about Jesus, so they could put him to death.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death;
- KJV Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
- BSB Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.
- NKJV Now the chief priests, the elders, and all the council sought false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death,
- NASB Now the chief priests and the entire Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.
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
The council seeks false testimony to put Jesus to death. The trial is a corrupt search for grounds to condemn an innocent man.
Overview
The highest court of Israel deliberately seeks false witnesses, revealing that the verdict is already decided. Their abuse of justice fulfills the pattern of the righteous sufferer condemned by liars in the Psalms. Jesus, though wholly innocent, willingly endures this injustice as part of His redemptive suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Deut 19:16–21If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
- Acts 6:11–13Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
- Mark 14:55–56Now the chief priests and the whole council sought witnesses against Jesus to put him to death, and found none.
- Acts 24:1–13After five days, the high priest, Ananias, came down with certain elders and an orator, one Tertullus. They informed the governor against Paul.
- Prov 25:18A man who gives false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.
- Ps 94:20–21Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with you, which brings about mischief by statute?
- Ps 35:11–12Unrighteous witnesses rise up. They ask me about things that I don’t know about.
- Ps 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.
- 1 Kgs 21:8–13So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth.
- Matt 5:22But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be in danger of the judgment; and whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ will be in danger of the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 26:59 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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