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21 Jesus asked her what she wanted, and she said, “When you come into your kingdom, please let one of my sons sit at your right side and the other at your left.”[a]

22 Jesus answered, “Not one of you knows what you are asking. Are you able to drink from the cup[b] that I must soon drink from?”

James and John said, “Yes, we are!”

23 Jesus replied, “You certainly will drink from my cup! But it isn't for me to say who will sit at my right side and at my left. This is for my Father to say.”

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Footnotes

  1. 20.21 right side … left: The most powerful people in a kingdom sat at the right and left side of the king.
  2. 20.22 drink from the cup: In the Scriptures a cup is sometimes used as a symbol of suffering. To “drink from the cup” is to suffer.

21 “What is it you want?” he asked.

She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”(A)

22 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup(B) I am going to drink?”

“We can,” they answered.

23 Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup,(C) but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”

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