Jesus Predicts His Betrayal
(Matthew 26.20-25; Mark 14.17-21; Luke 22.21-23)

John 13 ²¹After Jesus had said this, he was deeply troubled and declared openly, "I am telling you the truth: one of you is going to betray me."
²²The disciples looked at one another, completely puzzled about whom he meant. ²³One of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was sitting next to Jesus. ²⁴Simon Peter motioned to him and said, "Ask him whom he is talking about."
²⁵So that disciple moved closer to Jesus' side and asked, "Who is it, Lord?"
²⁶Jesus answered, "I will dip some bread in the sauce and give it to him; he is the man." So he took a piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Hurry and do what you must!" ²⁸None of the others at the table understood why Jesus said this to him. ²⁹Since Judas was in charge of the money bag, some of the disciples thought that Jesus had told him to go and buy what they needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor.
³⁰Judas accepted the bread and went out at once. It was night.

The New Commandment

³¹After Judas had left, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man's glory is revealed; now God's glory is revealed through him. ³²And if God's glory is revealed through him, then God will reveal the glory of the Son of Man in himself, and he will do so at once. ³³My children, I shall not be with you very much longer. You will look for me; but I tell you now what I told the Jewish authorities, 'You cannot go where I am going.' ³⁴And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are my disciples."

Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
(Matthew 26.31-35; Mark 14.27-31; Luke 22.31-34)

³⁶"Where are you going, Lord?" Simon Peter asked him.
"You cannot follow me now where I am going," answered Jesus; "but later you will follow me."
³⁷"Lord, why can't I follow you now?" asked Peter. "I am ready to die for you!"
³⁸Jesus answered, "Are you really ready to die for me? I am telling you the truth: before the rooster crows you will say three times that you do not know me.

A Prophet Reprimands Jehoshaphat

2 Chronicles 19 King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem. ²A prophet, Jehu son of Hanani, went to meet the king and said to him, "Do you think it is right to help those who are wicked and to take the side of those who hate the LORD? What you have done has brought the LORD's anger on you. ³But even so, there is some good in you. You have removed all the symbols of the goddess Asherah which people worshiped, and you have tried to follow God's will."

Jehoshaphat's Reforms

⁴Even though King Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, he traveled regularly among the people, from Beersheba in the south to the edge of the hill country of Ephraim in the north, in order to call the people back to the LORD, the God of their ancestors. ⁵He appointed judges in each of the fortified cities of Judah ⁶and instructed them: "Be careful in pronouncing judgment; you are not acting on human authority, but on the authority of the LORD, and he is with you when you pass sentence. ⁷Honor the LORD and act carefully, because the LORD our God does not tolerate fraud or partiality or the taking of bribes."
⁸In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat appointed Levites, priests, and some of the leading citizens as judges in cases involving a violation of the Law of the LORD or legal disputes between inhabitants of the city. ⁹He gave them the following instructions: "You must perform your duties in reverence for the LORD, faithfully obeying him in everything you do. ¹⁰Whenever your fellow citizens from any of the cities bring before you a case of homicide or any other violation of a law or commandment, you must instruct them carefully how to conduct themselves during the trial, so that they do not become guilty of sinning against the LORD. Unless you do, you and your fellow citizens will feel the force of the LORD's anger. But if you do your duty, you will not be guilty. ¹¹Amariah the High Priest will have final authority in all religious cases, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, governor of Judah, will have final authority in all civil cases. The Levites have the responsibility of seeing that the decisions of the courts are carried out. Be courageous and carry out these instructions, and may the LORD be on the side of the right!"

Psalm 78 ³⁸But God was merciful to his people.
He forgave their sin
and did not destroy them.
Many times he held back his anger
and restrained his fury.
³⁹He remembered that they were only mortal beings,
like a wind that blows by and is gone.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the desert;
how many times they made him sad!
⁴¹Again and again they put God to the test
and brought pain to the Holy God of Israel.
⁴²They forgot his great power
and the day when he saved them from their enemies
⁴³and performed his mighty acts and miracles
in the plain of Zoan in the land of Egypt.
⁴⁴He turned the rivers into blood,
and the Egyptians had no water to drink.
⁴⁵He sent flies among them, that tormented them,
and frogs that ruined their land.
⁴⁶He sent locusts to eat their crops
and to destroy their fields.
⁴⁷He killed their grapevines with hail
and their fig trees with frost.
⁴⁸He killed their cattle with hail
and their flocks with lightning.
⁴⁹He caused them great distress
by pouring out his anger and fierce rage,
which came as messengers of death.
⁵⁰He did not restrain his anger
or spare their lives,
but killed them with a plague.
⁵¹He killed the first-born sons
of all the families of Egypt.

⁵²Then he led his people out like a shepherd
and guided them through the desert.
⁵³He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
but the sea came rolling over their enemies.
⁵⁴He brought them to his holy land,
to the mountains which he himself conquered.
⁵⁵He drove out the inhabitants as his people advanced;
he divided their land among the tribes of Israel
and gave their homes to his people.