52
Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. “Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me?
53
Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”
54
So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance.
55
The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there.
56
A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!”
57
But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!”
58
After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!” “No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.
59
About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.”
60
But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
61
At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”
62
And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.