15:1 At daybreak, the chief priests—with the elders, legal experts, and the whole Sanhedrin—formed a plan. They bound Jesus, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate.
15:2 Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “That’s what you say.”
15:3 The chief priests were accusing him of many things.
15:4 Pilate asked him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? What about all these accusations?”
15:5 But Jesus gave no more answers, so that Pilate marveled.
15:6 During the festival, Pilate released one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.
15:7 A man named Barabbas was locked up with the rebels who had committed murder during an uprising.
15:8 The crowd pushed forward and asked Pilate to release someone, as he regularly did.
15:9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
15:10 He knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of jealousy.
15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.
15:12 Pilate replied, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?”
15:14 Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done?” They shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15:15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.
15:16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the courtyard of the palace known as the governor’s headquarters, and they called together the whole company of soldiers.
15:17 They dressed him up in a purple robe and twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on him.
15:19 Again and again, they struck his head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt before him to honor him.
15:20 When they finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
15:21 Simon, a man from Cyrene, Alexander and Rufus’ father, was coming in from the countryside. They forced him to carry his cross.
15:22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place.
15:23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he didn’t take it.
15:24 They crucified him. They divided up his clothes, drawing lots for them to determine who would take what.
15:25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.
15:26 The notice of the formal charge against him was written, “The king of the Jews.”
15:27 They crucified two outlaws with him, one on his right and one on his left.
15:29 People walking by insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! So you were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, were you?
15:30 Save yourself and come down from that cross!”
15:31 In the same way, the chief priests were making fun of him among themselves, together with the legal experts. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself.
15:32 Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross. Then we’ll see and believe.” Even those who had been crucified with Jesus insulted him.
15:33 From noon until three in the afternoon the whole earth was dark.
15:34 At three, Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you left me?”
15:35 After hearing him, some standing there said, “Look! He’s calling Elijah!”
15:36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, and put it on a pole. He offered it to Jesus to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down.”
15:38 The curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
15:39 When the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “This man was certainly God’s Son.”
15:40 Some women were watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (the younger one) and Joses, and Salome.
15:41 When Jesus was in Galilee, these women had followed and supported him, along with many other women who had come to Jerusalem with him.
15:42 Since it was late in the afternoon on Preparation Day, just before the Sabbath,
15:43 Joseph from Arimathea dared to approach Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a prominent council member who also eagerly anticipated the coming of God’s kingdom.)
15:44 Pilate wondered if Jesus was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him whether Jesus had already died.
15:45 When he learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, Pilate gave the dead body to Joseph.
15:46 He bought a linen cloth, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been carved out of rock. He rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.
15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was buried.
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