I was reading through parts of the Bible when Peter betrays Jesus. In Matthew, Mark, Luke and John all the accounts are a little different. One says before the rooster crows twice, Peter would betray Jesus. The others don't mention how many times the rooster will crow. Also the people who accused Peter were a little different depending on what book I was reading. I was just wondering why they are all different? I know they were written by different people, but they are all the Word of God.

I'm sure Tim will probably clarify a little more than me. I'm at work, and don't have my stuff with me, but I'll do what I can.
About the rooster crowing - the important thing to note is that the rooster crows. In one account, the author added the detail about how many times it crowed. It's like if I told you that my daughter sneezed on my while feeding her, and then later gave more detail and specified she sneezed on me twice. Either way, she sneezed on me. And it was gross...

As for the people involved, it looks like authors just giving details as to who each person is. Sort of like refering to someone speaking as either "The guy in the group," or "the guy with who lives on the north end of town." Same thing, just different details.

I just read through the four accounts of Jesus predicting Peter's denial and then the denial itself and you're right, each account is a little different, but I don't see any contradictions, just different details to the same story.

If four people all witnessed the same event and you asked each of them later to tell you what happened, chances are each story would be a little different because each person will include different details about it. In the case of the gospels, each of them emphasize Jesus' story a little differently from different perspectives so we get a very balanced perspective.

Matthew presents Jesus as a King.
Mark presents Jesus as a servant.
Luke presents Jesus as a man.
John presents Jesus as the Son of God.

As for the story of Peter's denial, some specify the number of times the rooster would crow, others how many times Jesus would deny him, but they're just different details of the same story. If one story said Peter would deny Jesus 3 times and another said 4 times, that would obviously be a problem, but I don't see anything like that. If you do, please point it out! I'd love to check it out and discuss it.

Good question. Thanks!

in matthew the first time Peter is accused by a servant girl. the second time it says another girl saw him and accused him. the third time is by those stading there.

in mark the first two times peter gets accused is by the same servant girl. the third time is by those standing near him

in luke the first time peter is accused is by a servant girl. the second time it says someone else accused him. the third time is yet again somebody else.

in john a girl on duty at the door accused him first. the second time doesn't specify. the third time he is accused by one of the high priest's servants.

So really the one that gets me is when it says in Matthew and Luke a different girl accuses him the second time, and in Mark it says the same servant girl accused him two times in a row. Sorry if that was a little confusing, i just kinda typed it as i was reading.

Matthew, Luke and John seem to be in agreement. The difference you're pointing out is in Mark where it looks like the same girl accused Peter two times in a row.

QUOTE:
Mark 14:69-70
The servant girl saw him standing there and began telling the others, "That man is definitely one of them!" Peter denied it again.

In Mark's account, that same girl is telling others that Peter was with Jesus, not accusing Peter to his face for a second time. When Peter denies it, he denies it to someone in that group and thereby to the whole group that was there listening, not necessarily that same girl, although that first girl was apparently part of that group. Matthew indicates it was to another girl in the group, Mark indicates to the group in general, Luke just says someone else, John neglects to mention it at all. All are true.

Maybe this link will help explain it better:
http://www.biblestudy101.org/apol/hbrecon1.html

It puts all the four Bible versions of this story side-by-side in the right column and explains what's going on in the left column. Hopefully that gives a better picture of what's going on. What do you think?

Thanks Tim that helps.