23:1 The whole group of them got up and brought him before Pilate.
23:2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”
23:3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” “It is as you say,” Jesus replied.
23:4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
23:5 But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea, beginning from Galilee all the way here.”
23:6 When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean.
23:7 When he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.
23:8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad. For a long time, he had wanted to see him, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle performed by him.
23:9 He questioned him with many words, but Jesus gave him no answer.
23:10 The chief priests and the experts in the law stood there, vehemently accusing him.
23:11 Herod, along with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and ridiculed him. Dressing him in bright clothing, he sent him back to Pilate.
23:12 Herod and Pilate became friends with each other on that day. Before this they had been enemies of each other.
23:13 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,
23:14 and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who is misleading the people. Look, I have examined him in your presence. I have found in this man no basis for the charges you are bringing against him.
23:15 Herod did not either, for he sent him back to us. See, he has done nothing worthy of death.
23:16 So I will have him flogged and release him.”
23:17 Pilate needed to release one prisoner to them at the Festival.
23:18 But they all shouted together with one voice: “Take him away! Release Barabbas to us!”
23:19 Barabbas had been thrown in prison for a rebellion in the city and for murder.
23:20 Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus.
23:21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”
23:22 He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death. So I will whip him and release him.”
23:23 But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified. And their voices were overwhelming.
23:24 So Pilate decided that what they demanded would be done.
23:25 He released the one they had asked for, who had been thrown in prison for rebellion and murder, but he handed Jesus over to their will.
23:26 As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country. They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
23:27 A large crowd of people was following him, including women who were mourning and wailing for him.
23:28 Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
23:29 Be sure of this: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never nursed.’
23:30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’
23:31 For if they do these things to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?”
23:32 Two other men, who were criminals, were led away with Jesus to be executed.
23:33 When they came to the place called The Skull, they crucified him there with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.
23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” They cast lots to divide his garments among them.
23:35 The people stood watching. The rulers were ridiculing him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, the Chosen One!”
23:36 The soldiers also made fun of him. Coming up to him, they offered him sour wine,
23:37 saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
23:38 There was also an inscription written above him: “This is the King of the Jews.”
23:39 One of the criminals hanging there was blaspheming him, saying, “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
23:40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same condemnation?
23:41 We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”
23:43 Jesus said to him, “Amen I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise.”
23:44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
23:45 while the sun was darkened. Then the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
23:46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
23:47 When the centurion saw what had happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous.”
23:48 When all the groups of people who had gathered to see this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their chests.
23:49 All those who knew Jesus, and the women who followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
23:50 Now there was a man named Joseph, from the Jewish town of Arimathea, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man.
23:51 He had not agreed with their plan and action. He was looking forward to the kingdom of God.
23:52 This man went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
23:53 He took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and placed it in a tomb that was cut out of rock, where no one had yet been laid.
23:54 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was beginning.
23:55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed after Joseph, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid there.
23:56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
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