Matthew 26:4

4 and plotted in order that they could arrest Jesus by stealth and kill [him].

Matthew 26:4 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 26:4

And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety
The Jews had often attempted his life, but he escaped out of their hands; they had sent officers to apprehend him, but to no purpose; they therefore meet and consult together, to form some scheme, and make use of some stratagem, that they might lay hold on him, and keep him; they were for doing this in the most private manner they could:

and kill him;
not with their own hands, nor privately; but their scheme was to apprehend him privately, by some secret artifice, and then deliver him to the Roman governor; to put him to death according to law, publicly, for crimes they had to charge him with; hereby ( Psalms 2:2 ) , had its accomplishment, at least in part.

Matthew 26:4 In-Context

2 "You know that after two days the Passover takes place, and the Son of Man will be handed over in order to be crucified."

3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas,

4 and plotted in order that they could arrest Jesus by stealth and kill [him].

5 But they were saying, "Not during the feast, so that there will not be an uproar among the people."

6 Now [while] Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

Footnotes

• [a] *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation