Judas arrives at the garden with a 'band' and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees. They carry lanterns, torches, and weapons.
Jesus in Context
The Armed Force That Came to Arrest Jesus
John describes both a speira and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees arriving with lights and weapons, indicating an organized nighttime arrest involving Roman and Temple-related personnel.
Introduction
Historical and Cultural Context
The Greek speira is a Roman military term often translated cohort, although the word does not require that every soldier of a full theoretical cohort was present. John separately names officers associated with the Jerusalem leadership. Portable lights were practical for a nighttime operation in a garden or orchard, while weapons show that the party came prepared for resistance.
Why It Matters
The terminology portrays the arrest as an organized action, not an improvised encounter with a few private enemies.
At the same time, the text does not justify the common claim that exactly six hundred Roman soldiers surrounded Jesus; the unit term need not specify the number actually deployed.