John 18


John 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel. This chapter records the events on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, starting with His arrest.

Text

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 40 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are:
The events recorded in this chapter took place in Jerusalem.

Jesus' betrayal and arrest in Gethsemane

The opening of chapter 18 is connected directly with the final words of chapter 14:
The intervening chapters record Jesus' Farewell Discourse. Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, suggests that Jesus and His disciples have "rise from table and prepare to depart at John 14:31, but that the contents of chapters 15-17 are spoken before they leave the room".

Verse 1

Some translations instead open with "When He had finished praying" or similar words.
and name the garden as "Gethsemane", but it is unnamed here.

Verse 2

Judas is now called "Judas the betrayer" or "Judas, who is betraying" . He comes to this familiar place with troops, a captain and officers and servants of the chief priests and the Pharisees, carrying torches and lanterns and weapons. Anglican bishop Charles Ellicott surmises that Gethsemane might have been belonged to "a friend or disciple" of Jesus. The New American Standard Bible notes that the troops were the Roman cohort whereas Richard Francis Weymouth identified them as a detachment of the Temple police. This was the garrison band from Fort Antonia, at the north-east corner of the Temple. Peter also came with a weapon :

Verse 4

Plummer notes from this verse that the evangelist's narrative confirms:
and that the aim of the narrative is to endorse Jesus' earlier words,
and the evangelist's earlier commentary

In the High Priest's Courtyard

Jesus and "another disciple", or "the other disciple", who was known to the high priest, are taken to the High Priest's Courtyard, where initially Jesus meets with Annas. Some scholars identify the anonymous disciple as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” The other disciple then brings in Peter. Unusually, John Wycliffe's bible translates τω αρχιερει, tō archierei as "the bishop".

In Pilate's Court

Verse 28

The Jewish leaders: words supplied by the New International Version to clarify "they". The reference is to the Sanhedrists according to Scottish Free Church minister William Nicoll. The text here confirms that in John's timeline, the trial of Jesus took place before the Passover and therefore likewise the events of chapters 13-17 preceded the Passover: cf. : before the Feast of the Passover...

Verse 31

Verse 37

Cross reference: ; ;

What is truth?

Verse 38