Matthew 26:37

And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	Καὶ Kai	G2532	and · conjunction
him	παραλαβὼν paralabōn	G3880	to receive near · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
Peter	Πέτρον Petron	G4074	a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος)) · noun — accusative singular masculine, a proper name
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
the	υἱοὺς huious	G5207	a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — accusative plural masculine
two	δύο duo	G1417	"two" · adjective — numeral, indeclinable
sons	υἱός huiós	G5207	a "son" (sometimes of animals)
Zebedee	Ζεβεδαίου Zebedaiou	G2199	Zebedæus · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
began	ἄρχομαι árchomai	G756	to commence (in order of time)
sorrowful	λυπεῖσθαι lupeisthai	G3076	to distress · verb — present passive infinitive
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
heavy	ἀδημονεῖν.¶ adēmonein	G85	to be in distress (of mind) · verb — present active infinitive

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Matthew 4:21 And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, me…
Matthew 17:1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Mark 5:37 And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
Mark 14:33-34 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they…
Matthew 20:20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
Luke 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
John 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Matthew 26:37

And he took with him Peter, and the two sons of Zebedee,.... James and John, who perhaps were the strongest, and best able to bear the shocking sight, and were his favourite disciples; who were admitted to be with him at other times, when the rest were not; as at the raising of Jairus's daughter, Mark 5:37, and moreover, these were at his transfiguration on the mount, Matthew 17:1, which was a representation and presage of his glory; and so were very proper persons to be witnesses of his sorrows and agonies, which were the way to it; and three of them were taken by him for this purpose, being a sufficient number to bear testimony, since by the mouth of two or three witnesses everything is es…

Read the whole note in the console

John Calvin on Matthew 26:36-44

Matthew 26:36-44 Matthew 26:36-44 Mark 14:32-40 Luke 22:39-46 36. Then Jesus cometh with them to a place which is called Gethsemane, and saith to the disciples, Sit here until I go yonder and pray. 37. And, having taken with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be affected with grief and sorrow. 38. Then Jesus saith to them, My soul is sorrowful, even to death: remain here, and watch with me. 39. And proceeding a little farther, he fell on his face, praying, and saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; but yet not as I will, but as thou wilt. 40. And he came to the disciples, and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, Couldst not thou watch with me…

Read the whole note in the console

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 26:37

He took Peter . . . James and John: These three, apparently the leaders of the apostles, received special revelation (17:1-13) and accompanied Jesus in this difficult hour. • Jesus became anguished and distressed from contemplating the Father’s plan for him, to absorb God’s wrath toward humans for their sin (see 27:45-46).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

And He takes with Him the three, and saith unto them, "my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Wherefore doth He not take all with Him? That they might not be cast down; but these He taketh that had been spectators of His glory.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of Matthew 83

(Fid. Orth. iii. 23.) Or otherwise; All things which have not yet been brought into existence by their Maker have a natural desire of existence, and naturally shun non-existence. God the Word then, having been made Man, had this desire, through which He desired food, drink, and sleep, by which life is supported, and naturally used them, and contrariwise shunned the things that are destructive of life. Hence in the season of His Passion which He endured voluntarily, He had the natural fear and sorrow for death. For there is a natural fear wherewith the soul shrinks from separation from the body, by reason of that close sympathy implanted from the first by the Maker of all things.
— John Damascene ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

He had accepted the disciples’ faith and the devotedness of their will, but He foresaw that they would be troubled and scattered abroad, and therefore bade them sit still in their places; for to sit belongs to one at ease, but they would be grievously troubled that they should have denied Him. In what fashion He went forward it describes, And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and very heavy; the same to whom He had shewn His glory in the mount. By this place are overthrown the Manichæans, who said that He took an unreal body; and those also who said that He had not a real soul, but His Divinity in place of a soul
— Remigius of Rheims ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

John — (1.) One who, with Annas and Caiaphas, sat in judgment on the apostles Peter and John (Acts 4:6). He was of the kindred of the high priest; otherwise unknown. (2.) The Hebrew name of Mark (q.v.). He…
Gethsemane · Jesus betrayed in — Jesus betrayed in
Humility Of Christ, The · Exhibited in his: Submitting to sufferings — Exhibited in his: Submitting to sufferings
James · In Gethsemane — In Gethsemane
Peter · .In the gar — .In the gar
Sorrow · Of Jesus — Of Jesus

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).