1 At daybreak, after the chief priests met and reached a decision with the Torah-experts and the entire Sanhedrin, they tied Jesus up and then led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

2 “Are you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked him.

“The words have come out of your own mouth,” Jesus replied.

3 The chief priests were bringing against Jesus accusation after accusation. 4 Pilate, then, asked him once again, “Surely you are going to say something in your own defense, aren’t you? Listen to all these accusations they are bringing against you!” 5 Jesus, however, still made no reply, to Pilate’s astonishment.

6 Now each year at the Passover Festival, Pilate would release to the people one prisoner, whomever they requested. 7 Well, there was a man named Barabbas who was in prison among these men: The insurrectionists, who during the insurrection had committed murder. 8 The crowd came up and began asking Pilate to release a prisoner to them in keeping with his usual custom.

9 Pilate, then, responded by asking them, “Do ᵖyou want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 10 (He knew, you see, that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.)

11 The chief priests, however, stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would release to them, instead, Barabbas.

12 Pilate, then, spoke to them once again, asking, “What then do ᵖyou want me do with the one you call the King of the Jews?”

13 “Crucify him!” they shouted back.

14 “Why?” asked Pilate. “What crime has he committed?”

But they shouted even more insistently, “Crucify him!”

15 So Pilate, because he wanted to please the crowd, released to them Barabbas, and had Jesus flogged and then handed over to be crucified.

16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters) and called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 They dressed him in a reddish-purple military cloak; and after making a victor’s crown out of branches with thorns, they placed it on him. 18 Then they began to salute him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 They struck him over and over again on the head with a staff and kept spitting on him, and getting down on their knees, they prostrated themselves before him. 20 When they had finished mocking him, they stripped him of the military cloak and put him back into his own clothes. Then they led him out to crucify him.

21 The soldiers forced a certain passerby who was coming in from the countryside, Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry Jesus’ cross. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “ Skull Place”). 23 They offered him some wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it. 24 The soldiers crucified him and divided up his garments among themselves by casting lots to decide who would get what.

25 Now it was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The inscription that stated the charge against him read: “The King of the Jews.” 27 With him they crucified two insurrectionists, one on his right and one on his left.+ 29 Those who were passing by kept hurling insults at Jesus, shaking their heads in scorn and saying, “Aha! You who were going to tear down the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself by coming down from the cross!” 31 In the same way, the chief priests, too, were mocking him among themselves, along with the Torah-experts. They kept saying, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! 32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see it and put our faith in him.” Even the men who were crucified with him were heaping insults on him.

33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land, and it lasted until three in the afternoon. 34 At three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”, which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”+

35 Some of those standing nearby, when they heard this, began saying, “Listen! He’s calling for Elijah!” 36 Then someone ran and soaked a sponge with sour wine, and when he had placed it on a stick, offered Jesus a drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

37 Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. 38 And the curtain hanging in front of the Holy of Holies in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.

39 When the Roman officer who was standing in front of Jesus saw how he died, he said, “Truly this man was the very Son of God!”

40 Now there were also some women there, looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41 When Jesus was in Galilee, these women would accompany him and provide for his needs. There were also many other women who had traveled up with him to Jerusalem.

42 It was now getting close to evening, and because it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), 43 Joseph from Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Sanhedrin, who was himself also waiting expectantly for the Kingdom of God, courageously went to Pilate and asked if he could have care of Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate, though, was surprised that Jesus was already dead, and so, having summoned the Roman officer, asked him if Jesus was in fact already dead. 45 When Pilate had received confirmation from the officer, he granted permission for the body to be given to Joseph. 46 After purchasing a linen shroud and having taken down the body, Joseph wrapped the body in the shroud and placed it in a tomb that had been cut into some bedrock. Then he rolled a stone across the entrance into the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses, meanwhile, were watching and took note of where the body was placed.