---
title: Mark 14:63
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/mark-14-63/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/mark-14-63.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Mark 14:63
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Mark 14:63

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “Why do we need any more witnesses?

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "At this the high priest ripped his garments and said: 'What further need do we have of witnesses?'"

## JW Usage

The Watchtower treats the high priest's robe-tearing as an emotional or politically motivated reaction rather than as an accurate response to a deity claim. Jewish law forbade the high priest from tearing his garments (Leviticus 21:10); JW commentary rarely flags this detail because it strengthens the case that Caiaphas understood Jesus to have crossed a uniquely grave line. The verse functions in JW publications as connective tissue between Jesus's "I am" and the Sanhedrin's death verdict, not as evidence of what the priests actually heard.

## Protestant Usage

Read v. 63 with Leviticus 21:10 in the Witness's own NWT. The high priest was forbidden from tearing his garments — the prohibition is explicit. Caiaphas violated the priestly code anyway because he considered Jesus's words gravely blasphemous enough to warrant the exception. In Second Temple Jewish law, robe-tearing by the high priest was the formal response to hearing divine prerogatives claimed by a creature. The detail is small and easy to miss, but it is one of the strongest historical-cultural pieces of evidence that Caiaphas heard Jesus claim divine identity, not merely Messianic identity. The whole Sanhedrin then convicted Jesus unanimously — they understood what Jesus had said, and they killed him for it.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Trial That Proved Jesus Claimed to Be God](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/mark14-trial-deity-claim.md) — Mark 14:60-64 [Deity of Christ]