Chapter 15

E¹arly in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate. ²So Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” ³And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things. ⁴Then Pilate questioned Him again, “Have You no answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!” ⁵But to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply.

N⁶ow it was Pilate’s custom at the feast to release to the people a prisoner of their choosing. ⁷And a man named Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. ⁸So the crowd went up and began asking Pilate to keep his custom. ⁹“Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked. ¹⁰For he knew it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.

S¹²o Pilate asked them again, “What then do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³And they shouted back, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁴“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” ¹⁵And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.

T¹⁶hen the soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called the whole company together. ¹⁷They dressed Him in a purple robe, twisted together a crown of thorns, and set it on His head. ¹⁸And they began to salute Him: “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They kept striking His head with a staff and spitting on Him. And they knelt down and bowed before Him. ²⁰After they had mocked Him, they removed the purple robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.

N²¹ow Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus. ²²They brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means The Place of the Skull. ²³There they offered Him wine mixed with myrrh, but He did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified Him. ²⁵It was the third hour when they crucified Him. ²⁶And the charge inscribed against Him read: ²⁷Along with Jesus, they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left.

²⁹And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰come down from the cross and save Yourself!” ³¹In the same way, the chief priests and scribes mocked Him among themselves, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself! ³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” And even those who were crucified with Him berated Him.

F³³rom the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. ³⁴At the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ³⁵When some of those standing nearby heard this, they said, “Behold, He is calling Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine. He put it on a reed and held it up for Jesus to drink, saying, “Leave Him alone. Let us see if Elijah comes to take Him down.” ³⁷But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. ³⁸And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹When the centurion standing there in front of Jesus saw how He had breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” ⁴⁰And there were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹These women had followed Jesus and ministered to Him while He was in Galilee, and there were many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.

N⁴²ow it was already evening. Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent Council member who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he summoned the centurion to ask if this was so. ⁴⁵When Pilate had confirmed it with the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶So Joseph bought a linen cloth, took down the body of Jesus, wrapped it in the cloth, and placed it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where His body was placed.