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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_26:36-38
36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." 37And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. 38Then He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me."
Mat_26:36 "Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane" "Gethsemane" meant "oil press" in Hebrew. It apparently was a private garden just outside the city limits of Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. It was illegal to have gardens within the city because the manure needed for the plants made the city ceremonially unclean. Apparently Jesus came to this garden quite often. It is even possible that during Passion Week He bivouacked here with His disciples. Judas knew the place well.
Mat_26:37 "And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee" From Mar_14:33 and Joh_4:21 we know the other two were James and John. This was the inner circle of leadership among the disciples (cf. Mat_17:1; Mar_5:37). They were present with Jesus on several special occasions when the other disciples were not. Apparently this led to both special training and jealousy on the part of the other disciples. Exactly why Jesus had an inner circle is uncertain. The list of the Twelve is always in four groupings of three. The groups never change. It is possible that the groups formed a rotating schedule for the disciples to go home periodically and check on their families.
▣ "began to be grieved and distressed" These were strong terms in Greek (cf. Mar_14:33). We are on very holy ground here in the garden as we see the Son of God in what may have been His most vulnerable human moment. Jesus must have related this account to His disciples after His resurrection. Apparently it was meant to be helpful for those who face temptation and for those who seek to understand the agony and cost of the Calvary experience.
Mat_26:38 "My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death" This was an Old Testament idiom (cf. Psa_42:5; Jonah Mat_6:9), which expressed the tremendous intensity which was involved in the redemption of sinful mankind. Something of the struggle can be seen in the parallel of Luk_22:43-44, which records that an angel came to minister to Him and He sweat great drops of blood. The victory over the evil one was won here in the garden. The insidiousness of Satan's temptation in Matthew 4 and of Peter's supposedly helpful, but extremely destructive, comments in Mat_16:22, are fully revealed in this passage.