And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a
consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And
they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate.
And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he
answered him, “You have said so.” And the chief priests accused him
of many things. And Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer to
make? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made
no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for
whom they asked. And among the rebels in prison, who had committed
murder in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. And
the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did
for them. And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release
for you the King of the Jews?” For he perceived that it was out of
envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. But the chief
priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas
instead. And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with
the man you call the King of the Jews?” And they cried out again,
“Crucify him.” And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he
done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” So Pilate,
wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and
having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is, the
governor's headquarters), and they called together the whole
battalion. And they clothed him in a purple cloak, and twisting
together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. And they began to
salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they were striking his
head with a reed and spitting on him and kneeling down in homage to
him. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple
cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to
crucify him.
And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in
from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his
cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which
means Place of a Skull). And they offered him wine mixed with
myrrh, but he did not take it. And they crucified him and divided
his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each
should take. And it was the third hour when they crucified him. And
the inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the
Jews.” And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right
and one on his left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging
their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and
rebuild it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the
cross!” So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to
one another, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let
the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that
we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also
reviled him.
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the
whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried
with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And some of the bystanders
hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” And someone ran
and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to
him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to
take him down.” And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way
he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were
Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of
Joses, and Salome. When he was in Galilee, they followed him and
ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up
with him to Jerusalem.
And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation,
that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a
respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for
the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for
the body of Jesus. Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have
already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he
was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he
was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. And Joseph bought a
linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud
and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he
rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and
Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.
