They met with the High Priest Annas and with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the others who belonged to the High Priest's family.

And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.

In this way they stirred up the people, the elders, and the teachers of the Law. They seized Stephen and took him before the Council.

Then the chief priests and the elders met together in the palace of Caiaphas, the High Priest,

and made plans to arrest Jesus secretly and put him to death.

Early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders made their plans against Jesus to put him to death.

They put him in chains, led him off, and handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor.

The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask Pilate to set Barabbas free and have Jesus put to death.

In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders made fun of him:

Remember what I told you: 'Slaves are not greater than their master.' If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too.

So Judas went to the garden, taking with him a group of Roman soldiers, and some Temple guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees; they were armed and carried lanterns and torches.

When the chief priests and the officer in charge of the Temple guards heard this, they wondered what had happened to the apostles.

So the officer went off with his men and brought the apostles back. They did not use force, however, because they were afraid that the people might stone them.

This is what we will do. When the priests and Levites come on duty on the Sabbath, one third of them will guard the Temple gates,

No one is to enter the Temple buildings except the priests and the Levites who are on duty. They may enter, because they are consecrated, but the rest of the people must obey the LORD's instructions and stay outside.

The Levites and the people of Judah carried out Jehoiada's instructions. The men were not dismissed when they went off duty on the Sabbath, so the commanders had available both those coming on duty and those going off.

So Judas went off and spoke with the chief priests and the officers of the Temple guard about how he could betray Jesus to them.

When Paul saw that some of the group were Sadducees and the others were Pharisees, he called out in the Council, "Fellow Israelites! I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. I am on trial here because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to life!"

(For the Sadducees say that people will not rise from death and that there are no angels or spirits; but the Pharisees believe in all three.)

Then the disciples understood that he was not warning them to guard themselves from the yeast used in bread but from the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Then they sent to him some of their disciples and some members of Herod's party. "Teacher," they said, "we know that you tell the truth. You teach the truth about God's will for people, without worrying about what others think, because you pay no attention to anyone's status.

That same day some Sadducees came to Jesus and claimed that people will not rise from death.

"Teacher," they said, "Moses said that if a man who has no children dies, his brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.