It was now two days before the Passover and [the festival of] Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were searching for a deceitful way to arrest Jesus and kill Him;

but they were saying, “Not during the festival, for the people might riot.”

On the first day [of the festival] of Unleavened Bread, when [as was customary] they sacrificed the Passover lamb, His disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

Now at the [Passover] feast Pilate used to set free for them any one prisoner whom they requested.