1
After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees.
2
Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples.
3
The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
4
Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
5
“Jesus the Nazarene,” 1 they replied.
“I AM he,” 2 Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.)
6
As Jesus said “I AM he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground!
7
Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?” And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8
“I told you that I AM he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.”
9
He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.” 3
10
Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave.
11
But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”