Then came a convenient day, when Herod on his birthday held a feast for his lords and generals and the leading men of Galilee,

Now two days later was the feast of the Passover and of Unleavened Bread. Both the chief priests and the Scribes were continually seeking how they might arrest him by a stratagem and kill him;

but, "Not on a feast-day," they said, "for fear there should be a riot among the people."

And the first day of the feast of Unleavened Bread, the day for killing the paschal lamb, his disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparation for you to eat the Passover?"

Now at the time of the feast it was customary to release to them a prisoner, whatever one they asked for.