3. The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
4. Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
5. “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.“i am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.)
6. As Jesus said “i am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground!
7. Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8. “I told you that i am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.”
9. He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”