And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He answered nothing.
Parallel translations
- WEB When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
- KJV And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
- BSB And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer.
- NASB And while He was being accused by the chief priests and elders, He did not offer any answer.
- NLT But when the leading priests and the elders made their accusations against him, Jesus remained silent.
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
Jesus stays silent under the chief priests' accusations. His refusal to defend Himself is dignified and deliberate.
Overview
Faced with a barrage of charges, Jesus offers no defense, displaying a composed silence that astonishes the court. This fulfills Isaiah's portrait of the suffering servant who, like a lamb led to slaughter, did not open His mouth. His silence reflects both His innocence and His willing submission to the Father's redemptive plan.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Matt 26:63But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
- Isa 53:7He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he didn’t open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he didn’t open his mouth.
- Matt 27:14He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly.
- Mark 15:3–5The chief priests accused him of many things.
- Acts 8:32Now the passage of the Scripture which he was reading was this, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter. As a lamb before his shearer is silent, so he doesn’t open his mouth.
- John 19:9–11He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
- 1 Pet 2:23Who, when he was cursed, didn’t curse back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;
- Ps 38:13–14But I, as a deaf man, don’t hear. I am as a mute man who doesn’t open his mouth.
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 27:12 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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