THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW

THE NEW TESTAMENT
TRANSLATED FROM
THE SYRIAC PESHITO VERSION BY JAMES MURDOCK

Chapter 27

(Mat 27:1) And when it was morning, the chief priests and the elders of the people held a council against Jesus, how they might put him to death.

(Mat 27:2) And they bound him, and carried him and delivered him up to Pilate, the president.

(Mat 27:3) Then Judas the betrayer, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, repented. And he went and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders;

(Mat 27:4) and said: I have sinned, by betraying innocent blood. And they said: What is that to us? See to it thyself.

(Mat 27:5) And he cast down the silver in the temple, and retiring, went and strangled himself

(Mat 27:6) And the chief priests took up the silver, and said: It is not lawful to put it into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.

(Mat 27:7) And they took counsel, and bought with it the potter's field, for a place to bury strangers.

(Mat 27:8) Wherefore that field is called the field of blood, unto this day.

(Mat 27:9) Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet, saying: I took the thirty [shekels] of silver, the price of the precious one, which they of the children of Israel had stipulated;

(Mat 27:10) and I gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.

(Mat 27:11) And Jesus stood before the president. And the resident asked him, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said to him: Thou hast said.

(Mat 27:12) And when the chief priests and elders accused him, he made no reply.

(Mat 27:13) Then Pilate said to him: Hearest thou not how much they testify against thee?

(Mat 27:14) But he gave him no answer, not even one word: and therefore Pilate wondered greatly.

(Mat 27:15) And at each festival, the president was accustomed to release to the people one prisoner, such as they preferred.

(Mat 27:16) And they had then in bonds a noted prisoner, called Bar Abas.

(Mat 27:17) And when they were assembled, Pilate said to them: Whom will ye, that I release to you, Bar Abas, or Jesus who is called Messiah?

(Mat 27:18) For Pilate knew that it was from enmity they had delivered him up.

(Mat 27:19) And as the president was sitting on his tribunal, his wife sent to him, and said: Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered much this I day in a dream because of him.

(Mat 27:20) But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should demand Bar Abas, and destroy Jesus.

(Mat 27:21) And the president answered, and said to them: Which of the two, will ye, that I release to you? And they said: Bar Abas.

(Mat 27:22) Pilate said to them: And what shall I do to Jesus who is called Messiah? They all replied: Let him be crucified.

(Mat 27:23) The president said to them: But what hath he done, that is evil? And they cried out the more, and said: Let him be crucified.

(Mat 27:24) And Pilate, when he saw that it availed nothing, but rather that tumult was produced, took water, and washed his hands before the eyes of the multitude, and said: I am pure from the blood of this just man: see ye to it.

(Mat 27:25) And all the people answered, and said His blood be on us, and on our children!

(Mat 27:26) Then released he to them Bar Abas; and scourged Jesus with whips and delivered him to be crucified.

(Mat 27:27) Then the soldiers of the president took Jesus into the Praetorium, and assembled the whole regiment against him.

(Mat 27:28) And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet military cloak.

(Mat 27:29) And they wove a crown of thorns, and set it on his head, and [put] a reed in his hand, and they bowed their knees before him, and mocked him, and said: Hail, thou king of the Jews.

(Mat 27:30) And they spit in his face, and took the reed, and smote him on his head.

(Mat 27:31) And when they had mocked him, they divested him of the cloak, and clothed him in his own garments, and led him out to be crucified.

(Mat 27:32) And as they went out, they found a man of Cyrene whose name was Simon; him they compelled to bear his cross.

(Mat 27:33) And they came to a place which is called Golgotha, which is interpreted a skull.

(Mat 27:34) And they gave him to drink vinegar mixed with gall. And he tasted [it], and would not drink.

(Mat 27:35) And when they had crucified him, they distributed his garments by lot.

(Mat 27:36) And they sat down, and watched him there

(Mat 27:37) And they placed over his head the cause of his death, in the writing: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

(Mat 27:38) And there were crucified with him two robbers, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

(Mat 27:39) And they that passed by reviled him, and shook their heads

(Mat 27:40) and said: Destroyer of the temple, and builder of it in three days, deliver thyself; if thou art the Son of God, and come down from the cross.

(Mat 27:41) So also the chief priests mocked, with the Scribes and Elders and Pharisees,

(Mat 27:42) and said: He gave life to others, his own life he cannot preserve. If he is the king of Israel, let him now descend from the cross, and we will believe in him.

(Mat 27:43) He trusted in God; let him rescue him now, if he hath pleasure in him: for he said, I am the Son of God.

(Mat 27:44) In like manner the marauders also, that were crucified with him, reproached him.

(Mat 27:45) And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land, until the ninth hour.

(Mat 27:46) And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice and said: O God, O God; why hast thou forsaken me?

(Mat 27:47) And some of them that stood there, when they heard [it], said: He calleth for Elijah.

(Mat 27:48) And immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.

(Mat 27:49) But the rest said: Desist; we will see if Elijah will come to rescue him.

(Mat 27:50) Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.

(Mat 27:51) And instantly, the curtain of the door of the temple was torn asunder, from the top to the bottom; and the earth shook; and the rocks rived;

(Mat 27:52) and graves were opened; and many bodies of saints who slept, arose,

(Mat 27:53) and came forth; and, after his resurrection, entered into the holy city, and appeared to many.

(Mat 27:54) And the centurion, and they that were with him guarding Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that occurred, feared greatly, and said: Verily, this was the Son of God.

(Mat 27:55) And many women were there, looking on from a distance; the same who had followed Jesus from Galilee, and had ministered to him.

(Mat 27:56) One of them was Mary of Magdala, also Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.

(Mat 27:57) And when it was evening, there came a rich man of Ramath, whose name was a Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.

(Mat 27:58) This man went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And Pilate directed the body to be given him.

(Mat 27:59) And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a winding-sheet of clean linen;

(Mat 27:60) and laid it in his new sepulchre, that was excavated in a rock. And he rolled a great stone against the door of the sepulchre, and departed:

(Mat 27:61) And there were present Mary of Magdala, and the other Mary, who sat over against the grave.

(Mat 27:62) And on the day that was next after the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate,

(Mat 27:63) and said to him: Our Lord, we remember that this deceiver said, while he was alive, After three days, I shall arise

(Mat 27:64) Command, therefore to guard the sepulchre; until the third day; lest his disciples come and steal him away by night, and say to the people that he hath risen from the dead; and the last delusion be worse than the first.

(Mat 27:65) Pilate said to them: Ye have soldiers: go and guard it, as ye know how.

(Mat 27:66) And they went and set a guard to the sepulchre, and sealed the stone.