Jesus Before Pilate
1 Very early in the morning,
the chief
priests,
with the
elders,
the
teachers
of the law
and the
whole
Sanhedrin,
made their
plans. So
they bound
Jesus, led
him away
and handed
him over
to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the
Jews?”
asked
Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus
replied.
3 The chief priests
accused
him of
many
things.
4 So again
Pilate
asked him,
“Aren’t
you going
to answer?
See how
many
things
they are
accusing
you of.”
5 But Jesus still made no
reply, and
Pilate was
amazed.
6 Now it was the custom at
the
festival
to release
a prisoner
whom the
people
requested.
7 A man
called
Barabbas
was in
prison
with the
insurrectionists
who had
committed
murder in
the
uprising.
8 The
crowd came
up and
asked
Pilate to
do for
them what
he usually
did.
9 “Do you want me to
release to
you the
king of
the Jews?”
asked
Pilate,
10 knowing
it was out
of
self-interest
that the
chief
priests
had handed
Jesus over
to him.
11 But the
chief
priests
stirred up
the crowd
to have
Pilate
release
Barabbas
instead.
12 “What shall I do, then,
with the
one you
call the
king of
the Jews?”
Pilate
asked
them.
13 “Crucify him!” they
shouted.
14 “Why? What crime has he
committed?”
asked
Pilate.
But they shouted all the
louder,
“Crucify
him!”
15 Wanting to satisfy the
crowd,
Pilate
released
Barabbas
to them.
He had
Jesus
flogged,
and handed
him over
to be
crucified.
The Soldiers Mock
Jesus
16 The soldiers led Jesus
away into
the palace
(that is,
the
Praetorium)
and called
together
the whole
company of
soldiers.
17 They
put a
purple
robe on
him, then
twisted
together a
crown of
thorns and
set it on
him.
18 And
they began
to call
out to
him,
“Hail,
king of
the Jews!”
19 Again
and again
they
struck him
on the
head with
a staff
and spit
on him.
Falling on
their
knees,
they paid
homage to
him.
20 And
when they
had mocked
him, they
took off
the purple
robe and
put his
own
clothes on
him. Then
they led
him out to
crucify
him.
The Crucifixion of
Jesus
21 A certain man from
Cyrene,
Simon, the
father of
Alexander
and Rufus,
was
passing by
on his way
in from
the
country,
and they
forced him
to carry
the cross.
22 They
brought
Jesus to
the place
called
Golgotha
(which
means “the
place of
the
skull”).
23 Then
they
offered
him wine
mixed with
myrrh, but
he did not
take it.
24 And
they
crucified
him.
Dividing
up his
clothes,
they cast
lots to
see what
each would
get.
25 It was nine in the
morning
when they
crucified
him.
26 The
written
notice of
the charge
against
him read:
the king
of the
jews.
27>28
They
crucified
two rebels
with him,
one on his
right and
one on his
left.
29 Those
who passed
by hurled
insults at
him,
shaking
their
heads and
saying,
“So! You
who are
going to
destroy
the temple
and build
it in
three
days,
30 come
down from
the cross
and save
yourself!”
31 In the
same way
the chief
priests
and the
teachers
of the law
mocked him
among
themselves.
“He saved
others,”
they said,
“but he
can’t save
himself!
32 Let
this
Messiah,
this king
of Israel,
come down
now from
the cross,
that we
may see
and
believe.”
Those
crucified
with him
also
heaped
insults on
him.
The Death of Jesus
33 At noon, darkness came
over the
whole land
until
three in
the
afternoon.
34 And at
three in
the
afternoon
Jesus
cried out
in a loud
voice,
“Eloi,
Eloi, lema
sabachthani?”
(which
means “My
God, my
God, why
have you
forsaken
me?”).
35 When some of those
standing
near heard
this, they
said,
“Listen,
he’s
calling
Elijah.”
36 Someone ran, filled a
sponge
with wine
vinegar,
put it on
a staff,
and
offered it
to Jesus
to drink.
“Now leave
him alone.
Let’s see
if Elijah
comes to
take him
down,” he
said.
37 With a loud cry, Jesus
breathed
his last.
38 The curtain of the
temple was
torn in
two from
top to
bottom.
39 And
when the
centurion,
who stood
there in
front of
Jesus, saw
how he
died,
he said,
“Surely
this man
was the
Son of
God!”
40 Some women were
watching
from a
distance.
Among them
were Mary
Magdalene,
Mary the
mother of
James the
younger
and of
Joseph,
and
Salome.
41 In
Galilee
these
women had
followed
him and
cared for
his needs.
Many other
women who
had come
up with
him to
Jerusalem
were also
there.
The Burial of
Jesus
42 It was Preparation Day
(that is,
the day
before the
Sabbath).
So as
evening
approached,
43 Joseph
of
Arimathea,
a
prominent
member of
the
Council,
who was
himself
waiting
for the
kingdom of
God, went
boldly to
Pilate and
asked for
Jesus’
body.
44 Pilate
was
surprised
to hear
that he
was
already
dead.
Summoning
the
centurion,
he asked
him if
Jesus had
already
died.
45 When he
learned
from the
centurion
that it
was so, he
gave the
body to
Joseph.
46 So
Joseph
bought
some linen
cloth,
took down
the body,
wrapped it
in the
linen, and
placed it
in a tomb
cut out of
rock. Then
he rolled
a stone
against
the
entrance
of the
tomb.
47 Mary
Magdalene
and Mary
the mother
of Joseph
saw where
he was
laid.