And a voice called out from heaven, saying, "You are my dearly loved Son. I am very pleased with you."

Very early in the morning, [even] before daylight, Jesus woke up, left Simon's house [verse 29] and went out to a deserted place where He prayed.

It was because Herod was afraid of John, knowing he was a righteous and holy man, so he protected him. And Herod became very disturbed whenever he listened to John, yet he heard him gladly.

And the king became very distressed [over such a gruesome request], but because he had promised her with oaths, and [to keep from looking bad] in front of his party guests, he did not refuse her [request].

becoming [very] frightened when they saw Him. But He immediately spoke to them and said, "Take courage, and do not be afraid, it is I."

And He answered them, "Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites very well when he wrote [Isa. 29:13], 'These people honor me with their lips [i.e., by what they say], but their heart is far from [honoring] me.

Jesus then began teaching them that the Son of man must suffer very much, be rejected by the [Jewish] elders, leading priests, and experts in the law of Moses and be killed, but rise again [from the dead] after three days.

For he did not know what to say, because they [all] became very afraid.

Jesus answered them, "Elijah truly will come first and restore all things [i.e., to their proper perspective concerning the Messiah]. And it is [also] written [in the Scriptures] about the Son of man, that He would suffer very much and be rejected.

When the ten other apostles heard this, they became very upset with James and John.

When Jesus saw that this man answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not [very] far from the kingdom of God." And after that, no one dared to ask Him any more questions.

For all of them threw in from their abundance, but being very poor, she threw in everything she had, even all she had to live on."

And while Jesus was in Bethany [Note: This was a small village fewer than two miles east of Jerusalem], sitting at the dinner table in the house of Simon, the man with an infectious skin disease [Note: This man had probably been healed by now], a woman with an alabaster [i.e., stone] jar of very expensive perfume came to Him, broke the jar and poured the perfume on His head.

And when they [i.e., the leading priests] realized this, they were very pleased and promised to give him money. So, Judas began looking for a convenient way to turn Jesus over to these Jewish leaders.

And Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, today, in fact this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny [knowing] me three times."

And very early on the first day of the week, after sunrise [i.e., on Sunday morning], they went to the grave site.

And when they looked up, they saw that the stone had [already been] rolled away, and it was very large.