Cock A Doodle, One Or Two?
(Did The Cock Crow Once…Or Twice?)
Bodie
Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries May 16, 2025 (Donate)
This is yet another alleged Bible contradiction that simply falls apart when carefully examined.
Explaining The Alleged The Problem
At Peter’s denials of Christ, did the rooster crow once (Matthew 26:34, Luke 22:34, John 13:38) or twice (Mark 14:3) and how does this affect inspiration of Scripture? Did the rooster crow once or twice and how does this affect inspiration of Scripture?
Background Information
To dive into the subject, let me first take you to Mark 13:35, which is relevant to the discussion. But let me explain it first, perhaps this is due to my chicken experiences on the farm on which I grew up. The passage says:
"Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming—in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning—" (all passages, NKJV)
Jesus spoke these words in the context of teaching His followers to make sure they stayed alert so they could be found “watching when the master of the house is coming.” He divided the night hours into 4 sections or “watches.” According to Jewish practices during the time of Christ, “evening” lasted from about 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M., “midnight” was around 9:00 P.M. until 12:00 A.M., “the crowing of the rooster” continued from about 12:00 A.M. until 3:00 A.M., and “the morning” watch was approximately from 3:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M.
We commonly use similar language in English but we usually leave out the “crowing of the rooster,” as few people [in the US anyway] live on farms and raise chickens, so we commonly say just use evening, midnight, and morning (sometimes we insert “early morning” to replace “the crowing of the rooster”, if events occurred in those hours. Furthermore, from my experience on the farm, the “crowing of the rooster” timeframe is not restricted to a particular hour. Instead, it lasts for several hours as the rooster crows off and on and it can last from midnight until the morning hours, but is marked by the first rooster crow in the night.
I can sleep through this rather well, being accustomed to it. [My wife, on the other hand, despises rooster’s crows, as I found out the first time we spent the night on the family farm together. She failed to sleep for the rest of the night, once the roosters began to crowing. J] So roosters crow for a big portion of the night, not just once or twice, and sometimes they crow once and other times they do it twice or three times in a row—one right after the other.
Typically roosters crow, not because the sun is coming up, as some have been led to believe, but because of changes in temperature, noise, wind, etc. (as a side note, notice the prophecy about a cock crowing which signifies change, and relate this to Peter’s change by his denials of Christ.)
The Solution
This was a long introduction to get to the “meat” of the issue, but it will come into play. Let’s now analyze the verses in question:
Matthew
Jesus said to
him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows,
you will deny Me three times." (Matthew 26:34)
Then he began to curse and swear, saying, "I do not know the Man!" Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had said to him, "Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." So he went out and wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:74–75)
Mark
Jesus said to
him, "Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the
rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." (Mark 14:30)
But he denied it,
saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are saying." And he
went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed. (Mark 14:68)
A second time the
rooster crowed. Then Peter called to mind the word that Jesus had said to him,
"Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." And
when he thought about it, he wept. (Mark 14:72)
Luke
Then He said,
"I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will
deny three times that you know Me." (Luke 22:34)
But Peter said,
"Man, I do not know what you are saying!" Immediately, while he was
still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter.
And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said to him, "Before
the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times." (Luke 22:60–61)
John
Jesus answered
him, "Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to
you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times. (John
13:38)
Peter then denied again; and immediately a rooster crowed. (John 18:27)
All four Gospels record a prophecy about a cock (rooster) crowing at or around the time of Peter’s third denial. Each also record that this sound triggered Peter to remember the prophecy. Matthew, Luke, and John were not being specific about how many times the cock crowed nor did they make the case that it was the first time or the only time the cock crowed. It seems they were making the point of significance, that is, when Peter heard a particular cock crowing, this prophecy would come to mind.
Mark adds a detail not found in the other accounts—that Peter would deny Christ before the cock crowed twice. We should expect Mark to include extra details about Peter, because he was basically a scribe for Peter as early church fathers attest. He recorded what he learned from Peter. So if any of the Gospel writers were to fill in an extra detail about Peter on this event, Mark would be the one.
There are several plausible ways to show that it is not a contradiction with the other three gospel writers. Keep in mind that a contradiction is “A and not A in the same relationship at the same time.” So a legitimate contradiction would be if the Gospel writers claimed the rooster crowed and did not crowed at the same time in this situation, or if they claimed that only one rooster would crow and that more than one would crow—but that is clearly not what the Bible says. All four Gospels attest to a cock crowing at the time of Peter’s third denial, and the other three do not say it was the only crow. So our goal is to show these accounts are complementary.
The first step in dealing with these supposed
contradictions is to check the context of the passages. In this case, we find
something very interesting. Matthew and Mark place Jesus and His disciples on
the Mount of Olives during the giving of this prophecy. These two writers also
have Jesus stating that all of the disciples would be made to stumble that
night before Peter spoke up and pledged his allegiance to Jesus. At this point,
Jesus told Peter that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crows.
On the other hand, Luke and John tell us that Jesus was already talking to
Peter alone in the Upper Room before they left for the Mount of Olives.
So is this another point of disagreement among the Gospel writers? Not at all! The best solution to this dilemma is that Jesus told Peter about his coming denials while there were still in the Upper Room. Then when they went out to the Mount of Olives, Jesus told all of the disciples that they would stumble that night. At this point, Peter reiterated His promise to stand by Jesus no matter what the consequences. Jesus once again told Peter that he would deny the Savior three times “before the rooster crows” (Matthew 26:34).
With that point of clarification, we are still left with the supposed differences between Matthew and Mark. Did Jesus say the cock would crow once or twice? Some commentators, such as Dr. John Gill, have appealed to a copyist mistake. Beza’s ancient copy that was given to Cambridge University does not have “twice” in Mark 14:30 nor does the Ethiopic version. If these accurately represent the original texts on this verse then the difficulty disappears.[1] A copyist mistake would not affect the doctrine of inerrancy, since that doctrine only applies to the original manuscripts.
Dr. Gill further argued that the meaning of the cock crowing referred to “the time of cock crowing.”[2] Since the third watch of the night was known as the cock crowing this time period would include one cock crowing or more than one crowing – but one would have to signify the beginning of this timeframe. As such, this alleged contradiction dissolves when one understands more about the cultural setting in which Jesus spoke these words.
Another resolution to the alleged contradiction is realizing that the second crow mentioned by Mark was likely the same crow mentioned by Matthew, Luke, and John and was separated by enough time to be considered a single significant crow by these authors. The first two denials of Peter were done in response to a servant girl (Mark 14:66-67) and after the servant girl told others, a particular man confronted Peter the second time (Mark 14:69, Luke 22:59). The final denial was made approximately one hour later (Luke 22:59) in front of a crowd who stood near Peter (Mark 14:70, Matthew 26:73) This crowd included a relative of Malchus, the man whose ear Peter had sliced off earlier in the night (John 18:26). It is rather obvious by the context that Matthew, Luke and John all reference the second rooster crow:
1.
The crowing in Matthew is the same as
the second crow in Mark. Notice that both mention Peter’s cursing and swearing
which occurred at the third denial and the second crowing in Mark 14:71–72; Matthew
26:74.
2.
The crow that Luke mentions is the
second crow in Mark because Luke 22:60 indicates the cock crowed after the
third denial, which corresponds to the second crow in Mark.
3. The crow that John discusses is also the second crow in Mark. It occurred immediately following his third denial, but John also indicates that the first denial was separated from the second and the third denials by the length of Jesus’ trial before Annas. Luke reveals that about one hour had passed between the first and final denials.
The fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecies about
Peter’s denials are recorded by all four Gospel authors. The context of the
fulfillment in Matthew, Luke, and John is not in reference to the first crow,
but clearly refers to the second rooster crow, which was the significant
crowing of the cock that caused Peter to remember the Lord’s prophecy. The two
crows were separated by about an hour, so the second crow can rightly be described
by the words “the rooster crowed.” So these accounts are not contradictory, rather,
they are complementary.
