Bible Synapse

Did Jesus go apart to pray three times in Gethsemane, or only once?

Hard question · The death and resurrection of Jesus · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate

A summary and a fuller account
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The passages

Matthew 26:36–46

Jesus went away to pray three times, and each time came back to find the disciples asleep.

Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. …

Mark 14:32–42

Jesus prayed, came back and found them sleeping, prayed again, and “cometh the third time”.

And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he saith to his disciples, Sit ye here, while I shall pray. And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; And saith unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch. And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt. And he cometh, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, Simon, sleepest thou? couldest not thou watch one hour? …

Luke 22:39–46

Jesus withdrew “about a stone’s cast”, knelt and prayed, then rose from prayer and found the disciples sleeping.

And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 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. …

The objection

Matthew and Mark say that Jesus left his disciples to pray three times, coming back to them after each prayer. Luke describes only one withdrawal, one prayer and one return. If all three describe the same night in the same garden, critics ask how many times Jesus actually went apart to pray.

The answer

Luke tells the Gethsemane story more briefly than Matthew and Mark throughout, and he nowhere says that Jesus prayed only once. He does not name the garden, does not mention that Jesus took Peter, James and John further in with him, and gives a single sentence of the prayer. He gathers the hour of prayer into one scene: Jesus withdraws, prays, rises “from prayer” and finds the disciples asleep (Luke 22:41–45).

The other two Gospels show that this kind of shortening was normal. Matthew is the fullest: he gives the words of the first and second prayers and says that the third used “the same words” (Matthew 26:39–44). Mark gives the first prayer, says only that the second used “the same words”, and for the third records just that Jesus came back to the disciples: “he cometh the third time” (Mark 14:39–41). As Ellicott noted, Mark leaves the third prayer out. So the three Gospels tell one story at three levels of detail, and all three share its heart: the cup, the submission to the Father’s will, the sleeping disciples and the warning to pray “that ye enter not into temptation”. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown weave the three accounts into one, with Luke’s angel and agony set within the repeated prayers.

Other answers Christians give

Luke’s scene as the climax

Some harmonists, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown among them, place Luke’s angel and agony at the last and fiercest of the three prayers. On this view Luke describes the moment of greatest struggle and the final return to the disciples, and leaves the earlier rounds untold.

From the classic commentators

We may note St. Mark’s omission of the third repetition of the prayer.C. J. Ellicott (ed.), Commentary for English Readers, on Mark 14 (1878)

Sources

Further reading

Raised by: Shabir Ally, 101 Clear Contradictions in the Bible. Only the verse references come from these lists.

Checked 2026-10-22. All hard questions