Jesus Delivered to Pilate

1 ^cAnd as soon as it was morning, the chief priests ^dheld a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And ^ethey bound Jesus and ^fled him away and ^gdelivered him over to ^hPilate. 2 ⁱAnd Pilate asked him, ^j“Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, ^k“You have said so.” 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things. 4 And Pilate again asked him, ^l“Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” 5 But Jesus ^lmade no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

6 ^mNow at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. 7 And among the rebels in prison, who had ⁿcommitted murder ^oin the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. 8 And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. 9 And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” 10 For he perceived that ^pit was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. 12 And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with ^qthe man you call the King of the Jews?” 13 And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” 14 And Pilate said to them, “Why? ^rWhat evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” 15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having ^sscourged¹ Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

16 ^tAnd the soldiers led him away inside ^uthe palace (that is, ^vthe governor’s headquarters),² and they called together the whole ^wbattalion.³ 17 And they clothed him in ^xa purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. 18 And they began to salute him, ^y“Hail, King of the Jews!” 19 And they were striking his head with a reed and ^zspitting on him and ^akneeling down in homage to him. 20 And when they had ^bmocked him, they stripped him of ^xthe purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they ^cled him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

21 ^dAnd they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22 ^eAnd they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). 23 And they offered him wine mixed with ^fmyrrh, but he did not take it. 24 And they crucified him and ^gdivided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25 And ^hit was the third hour⁴ when they crucified him. 26 And the inscription of the charge against him read, ⁱ“The King of the Jews.” 27 And with him they crucified two ^jrobbers, ^kone on his right and one on his left.⁵ 29 And ^lthose who passed by derided him, ^mwagging their heads and saying, ⁿ“Aha! ^oYou who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31 So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, ^p“He saved others; ^qhe cannot save himself. 32 Let ^rthe Christ, ^sthe King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may ^tsee and believe.” ^uThose who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The Death of Jesus

33 And when the sixth hour⁶ had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.⁷ 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus ^vcried with a loud voice, ^w“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35 And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” 36 And someone ran and filled a sponge with ^xsour wine, put it on a reed ^yand gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 And Jesus ^zuttered a loud cry and ^abreathed his last. 38 And ^bthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 ^cAnd when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he⁸ breathed his last, he said, ^d“Truly this man was the Son⁹ of God!”

40 There were also ^ewomen looking on ^ffrom a distance, among whom were ^gMary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and ⁱSalome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ^gministered to him, and there were also many other women who ^jcame up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

42 ^kAnd when evening had come, since it was ^lthe day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea, ^ma respected member of the council, who ⁿwas also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.¹⁰ And summoning ^othe centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45 And when he learned from ^othe centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46 And Joseph¹¹ bought ^pa linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and ^qlaid him in a tomb ^rthat had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled ^sa stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 ^tMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

The Lord Surrounds His People

A Song of ^mAscents.