And Jesus saith unto him, verily I say unto thee,.... As confident as thou art of standing by me, and abiding with me;
that this day, which was then begun; for the Jews reckoned their days from evening, as in Genesis 1:5;
even in this night; this night to be observed, this night of the passover, before it is past:
before the cock crow twice; for there was a first and second cock crowing, the one at midnight, and the other near break of day, and which last is properly the cock crowing: the word "twice" is left out in the Ethiopic version:
thou shalt deny me thrice; as he did; Matthew 26:34.