Bible Strands
Luke 22:2
and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they feared the people.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Luke 22:2 places the chief priests and scribes in covert action during the days leading up to the Passover feast, as the narrative shifts from festival timing to conspiracy.
The words — The text highlights ἐζήτουν (ezētoun), translated literally as “were seeking,” which conveys their active, ongoing search for a method to execute Jesus.
The thread — This pattern of religious leaders plotting against Jesus appears in John 11:47 and Matthew 12:14, where the latter specifically identifies the plotters as Pharisees rather than the chief priests and scribes named here. The broader motif of opposition to God’s anointed echoes Psalms 2:1.
Why it lands — The verse records that fear of the crowd, not theological conviction, motivated the leaders’ search for a way to kill Jesus, demanding the reader recognize how political anxiety drives opposition to divine purpose.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.
Cross-references
- John 11:47 Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
- Psalms 2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
- Matthew 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
- Matthew 21:45 When the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they knew that Jesus was speaking about them.
- Matthew 26:3 At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas,
- Luke 19:47 Jesus was teaching at the temple every day, but the chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people were intent on killing Him.
- Luke 20:19 When the scribes and chief priests realized that Jesus had spoken this parable against them, they sought to arrest Him that very hour. But they were afraid of the people.
- John 11:57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where He was must report it, so that they could arrest Him.
- Matthew 21:38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’
- Acts 4:27 In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.