Section 14:10–11
Judas told the chief priests that he would betray Jesus to them
This section continues the story from 14:1–2 about how the Jewish leaders wanted to arrest Jesus. In this section, one of Jesus’ own disciples, Judas, agreed to betray Jesus and help the leaders arrest him.
Section 14:1–2 and Section 14:10–11 are similar in the theme of plotting to kill Jesus and in vocabulary. The chief priests and scribes were seeking to arrest Jesus in a sly and secret way. In the same way, Judas was seeking an opportunity to hand him over when not many people were around.
Here are some other possible headings for this section:
Judas agreed to betray Jesus to his enemies
-or-
Judas’ agreement to betray Jesus
-or-
Judas Iscariot went and arranged to give Jesus to those who wanted to arrest him
There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 26:14–16 and Luke 22:3–6.
Paragraph 14:10–11
14:10a
Then: In Greek this verse begins with the common connector that is often translated as “and.” In this context it introduces the next event in the story. This event probably occurred soon after the events in 14:3–9. Connect this section with the previous one in a natural way in your language.
Judas Iscariot: The name Judas Iscariot first appears in Mark 3:19. You should write it in the same way here.
one of the Twelve: The phrase one of the Twelve indicates that Judas belonged to the group of Jesus’ twelve special disciples or apostles. The phrase the Twelve was first used in 4:10a.
In many languages, it will be necessary to specify “disciple(s)” or “apostle(s)” in one or more places. For example:
Judas Iscariot, one disciple / apostle among the twelve disciples/apostles
The information that Judas was one of the twelve disciples may be placed after 14:10b to emphasize that Judas was a traitor. See the General Comment on 14:10a–b below for an example.
14:10b
went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them: Judas went to the chief priests in order to offer to help them arrest Jesus when no crowd was present.
chief priests: A Jewish priest was a man who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. He also performed other rituals for them. The phrase chief priests refers to the leaders among these priests.
Here are some other ways to translate chief priests:
the leading/ruling priests
-or-
the elders among the Jewish sacrificers
-or-
the most prominent priests
See how you translated this term in 8:31c and 14:1b.
betray Jesus to them: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as betray generally means “hand over or deliver to someone else’s control or authority.” In this context, the implied information is that Judas offered to betray Jesus. Judas would complete the action of betraying Jesus when Judas actually led the guards to him so that they could arrest him.
Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:
went to the chief priests in order to make an agreement with them about helping them to seize/arrest Jesus
-or-
…went to the chief priests. He told them that he wanted to deliver Jesus into their control.
General Comment on 14:10b
In some languages it may be natural to translate this verse part using direct speech. For example:
…went to the chief priests and said, “I want to help you to arrest Jesus.”
General Comment on 14:10a–b
In some languages it may be more natural to change the order of information in this verse. For example:
10aThen Judas Iscariot 10bwent to the chief priests in order to talk to them about helping them to seize Jesus. He did that even though 10ahe was one of the twelve disciples!
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