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Chapter 27

Jesus Is Handed Over to Pilate.[a] When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people met together in council to decide how to put him to death. They bound him and led him away, and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.

Judas Hangs Himself.[b] When Judas discovered that Jesus, whom he betrayed, had been condemned he was seized with a sense of remorse, and he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

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Footnotes

  1. Matthew 27:1 According to Matthew and Mark, the members of the Sanhedrin came together officially for a second time in the morning to pronounce the sentence of condemnation. In the light of a different scenario found in Luke and John, scholars believe it is more probable that during the night Jesus appeared before Annas for a private interrogation and then was brought to Caiaphas. In the morning he appeared before the Sanhedrin, where he was declared deserving of death. The Jewish tribunal did not have the power over life and death. Therefore, Jesus was led before Pontius Pilate, who from A.D. 26 to 36 was the governor (procurator) in Judea, which passed into the direct dominion of Rome in A.D. 6.
  2. Matthew 27:3 This story is typical of Matthew’s style; the sad incident suggests to him various references to the Scriptures (Zec 11:12-13; Jer 18:2-3; 32:6-15). The memory of Judas was a burden to the early Christians (see Acts 1:16-20).