Matthew 26:4

4 conspiring to seize 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 Passover comes in two days. That's when the Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over for crucifixion."

3 At that very moment, the party of high priests and religious leaders was meeting in the chambers of the Chief Priest named Caiaphas,

4 conspiring to seize Jesus by stealth and kill him.

5 They agreed that it should not be done during Passover Week. "We don't want a riot on our hands," they said.

6 When Jesus was at Bethany, a guest of Simon the Leper,