It is as when a man who is in another country for a time, having gone away from his house, and given authority to his servants and to everyone his work, gives the porter an order to keep watch.

Now the Passover Festival and the Festival of Unleavened Bread were held two days later. [Note: This was the annual Jewish Festival week commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage under Moses' leadership. The unleavened bread was specially baked bread containing no yeast, which was eaten for seven days as part of the celebration]. And the leading priests and experts in the law of Moses were looking for a way to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him.

Now while Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of costly aromatic oil from pure nard. After breaking open the jar, she poured it on his head.

And, as they were reclining and eating, Jesus said - Verily, I say unto you - One from among you, will deliver me up, he that is eating with me.

And he took a cup, and when he had given praise, he gave it to them: and they all had a drink from it.

but this I tell you, I will never more drink of this fruit of the vine, from this time forth to that day, when I shall drink with you of the spiritual wine in the kingdom of God.

And Jesus said to them, You will all be turned away from me: for it is in the Writings, I will put the keeper of the sheep to death, and the sheep will be put to flight.

But after I have come back from the dead, I will go before you into Galilee.

But Peter said to him, Though the others may be turned away from you, I will not.

And he went forward a little, and falling down on the earth, made request that, if possible, the hour might go from him.

And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible to you; take away this cup from me: but even so let not my pleasure, but yours be done.

And straight away, while he was still talking, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great band with swords and sticks, from the chief priests and the scribes and those in authority.

And they all went away from him in fear.

but he, leaving the linen cloth behind him, fled from them naked.

And Peter followed him from a distance, right inside, into the courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with the officers and warming himself by the fire.

And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting from the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.

Now when Peter was in the courtyard downstairs [i.e., from where the Sanhedrin was having its meeting. See verse 55], one of the head priest's servant girls came in,

and seeing Peter warming himself by the fire, she looked at him and said, "You were with Jesus from Nazareth, too."

And the servant girl having seen him, she began again to say to those who stood by, This man is from them.

But he again denied it. And after a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, Surely thou are from them, for thou are a Galilean, and thy accent is similar.

Now at the Festival it was customary for Pilate to release to the Jews any one prisoner whom they might beg off from punishment;

For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him up from envy.

And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

And they made one, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was going by, coming from the country, go with them, so that he might take his cross.

And with him they crucify two robbers; one from the right, and one from the left.

Keep yourself from death, and come down from the cross.

In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were ridiculing and mocking Him among themselves and saying, “He saved others [from death]; He cannot save Himself!

Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and have belief. And those who were put on crosses with him said evil things against him.

Now from the sixth hour the whole land was cover'd with darkness until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus said in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?

Then one of the soldiers ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink, saying, "Let him alone; let us see if Elijah comes to take him down [from the cross]."

And the curtain of the Temple was parted in two from end to end.

And when the centurion, who stood from opposite him, saw that he expired, having cried out this way, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

And there were women watching from a distance: among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome,

These women had ministered to Jesus' needs when they followed Him from Galilee. Others watching were many women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.

Joseph, from Arimathea, a highly respected member of the [Jewish] Council, who was expecting the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate [i.e., the Roman appointed governor] and asked [him] for the body of Jesus.

And when he had news of it from the captain, he let Joseph have the body.

And [after] purchasing a linen cloth [and] taking him down, he wrapped [him] in the linen cloth and placed him in a tomb that had been cut from the rock. And he rolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb.

[Now] Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of Joseph [See verse 40] saw where the body was laid.

Now when the Sabbath day was over [i.e., after sunset on Saturday evening], Mary from Magdala; Mary the mother of James [i.e., the "other Mary" of Matt. 28:1, who was probably Jesus' mother. See Matt. 27:56]; and Salome [i.e., the mother of James and John and wife of Zebedee. See Matt. 27:56], bought spices [i.e., consisting of aloes and other aromatic perfumes] in order to apply them to His body [i.e., as a means of embalming].

And they were saying among themselves, Who will get the stone rolled away from the door for us?

And he said to them, Do not be troubled: you are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been put to death on the cross; he has come back from the dead; he is not here: see, the place where they put him!

And they went out quickly from the place, because fear and great wonder had come on them: and they said nothing to anyone, because they were full of fear that ...

Now when he came back from the dead early on the first day of the week, he went first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had sent out seven evil spirits.

And when they heard that Jesus was alive and had been seen by Mary from Magdala, they refused to believe it.

And later he was seen by the eleven themselves while they were taking food; and he said sharp words to them because they had no faith and their hearts were hard, and because they had no belief in those who had seen him after he had come back from the dead.

The person who believes [i.e., the Gospel] and is immersed will be saved [i.e., from condemnation], but whoever does not believe it will be condemned.

And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.][And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.]