JESUS EXAMINED BY THE SANHEDRIM--PETER DENIES HIM.
Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false
witness against Jesus, to put him to death; but found none: yea, though
many false witnesses came, _yet_ found they none: their witness agreed
not together. At the last came two false witnesses, and bare false
witness against him, saying, We heard him say, I am able to destroy the
temple of God, that is made with hands, and within three days I will
build another made without hands. But neither so did their witness agree
together.
And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying,
Answerest thou nothing? what _is it which_ these witness against thee?
But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked
him, and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell
us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God, the Son of the Blessed?
Jesus saith unto him,
Thou hast said: nevertheless say I unto you, Hereafter shall
ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and
coming in the clouds of heaven.
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy;
what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his
blasphemy. What think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of
death.
And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote _him_. And some began
to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him. And when they
had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and others smote _him_
with the palms of their hands, saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ,
Who is he that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake
they against him.
And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there cometh one of the maids of
the high priest: (the damsel that kept the door;) and when she saw
Peter, as he sat by the fire, warming himself, she looked upon him, and
said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth. Art thou not also _one_
of this man's disciples?
But he denied before _them_ all, saying, Woman, I know him not, neither
understand I what thou sayest. And he went out into the porch; and the
cock crew.
And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals:
for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them,
and warmed himself. And after a little while, when he was gone out into
the porch, another _maid_ saw him, and said unto them that were there,
This is _one_ of them, this _fellow_ was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also _one_ of his disciples?
And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
And about the space of an hour after, they that stood by said again to
Peter, Surely, thou art _one_ of them: for thou art a Galileean, and thy
speech agreeth _thereto_. One of the servants of the high priest, being
_his_ kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the
garden with him? But he began to curse and to swear, _saying_, I know
not this man of whom ye speak. And immediately the second time, while he
yet spake, the cock crew.
And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the
word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow twice,
thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he went out, and
wept bitterly.