According to Matthew 26.57, Jesus was tried before Caiaphas; Mark (14.53) and Luke (22.57) simply mention the High Priest. But John clearly indicates that Jesus was taken first before Annas (verse 13), and later before Caiaphas (verse 24). John does not indicate what happened in the trial before Caiaphas. To resolve these difficulties one ancient manuscript puts verse 24 in the middle of verse 13, thus indicating that it was before Caiaphas that Jesus was tried (18.19-23). It is obvious that this reordering is simply an attempt to make the text conform to the Synoptic accounts. Moffatt is the only translation that reorders the verses. His reordering (13,14,19-24,15-18,25-27) is rather radical and wholly without textual support.

Annas is mentioned only here and in verse 24 in John’s Gospel. Elsewhere in the New Testament he is mentioned in Luke 3.2 and Acts 4.6. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, Annas was appointed High Priest in A.D. 6 but was deposed in A.D. 15. However, he remained a very powerful man, and eventually each of his five sons became High Priest. Only John’s Gospel indicates that Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas. Most languages have a term for father-in-law, but if such a term does not exist, one can say “Annas was the father of the woman Caiaphas married.”

For the statement who was High Priest that year, see the comments at 11.49.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .