15:1 As soon as it was morning, the high priests convened a meeting with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. They bound Jesus with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
15:2 Pilate asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "You say so."
15:3 The high priests kept accusing him of many things.
15:4 So Pilate asked him again, "Don't you have any answer? Look how many accusations they're bringing against you!"
15:5 But since Jesus no longer answered, Pilate was astonished.
15:6 At every festival, Pilate would release any one prisoner whom the people requested.
15:7 Now there was a man in prison named Barabbas. He had been with the insurgents who had committed murder during the rebellion.
15:8 So the crowd came and began to request that Pilate do for them what he always did.
15:9 Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?"
15:10 because he knew that the high priests had handed him over due to jealousy.
15:11 But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead.
15:12 So Pilate asked them again, "Then what should I do with the man you call 'the King of the Jews'?"
15:14 "Why?" Pilate asked them. "What has he done wrong?" But they shouted even louder, "Crucify him!"
15:15 So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.
15:16 The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters) and called out the whole guard.
15:17 They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted some thorns into a victor's crown, and placed it on his head.
15:18 They began to greet him, "Long live the king of the Jews!"
15:19 They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, kneeling in front of him, and worshiping him.
15:20 When they had finished making fun of him, they stripped him of the purple robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him.
15:21 They forced a certain passer-by named Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who happened to be coming in from the country, to carry Jesus' cross.
15:22 They took Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place.
15:23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he wouldn't accept it.
15:24 Then they crucified him. They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice to see what each one would get.
15:25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.
15:26 The written notice of the charge against him read, "The king of the Jews."
15:27 They crucified two bandits with him, one on his right and the other on his left.
15:29 Those who passed by kept insulting him, shaking their heads, and saying, "Ha! You who were going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days—
15:30 save yourself and come down from the cross!"
15:31 In the same way, the high priests, along with the scribes, were also making fun of him among themselves. They kept saying, "He saved others, but can't save himself!
15:32 Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, since seeing is believing!" Even the men who were crucified with him kept insulting him.
15:33 At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
15:34 At three o'clock, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani?" (which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")
15:35 When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, "Listen! He's calling for Elijah!"
15:36 So someone ran and soaked a sponge in some sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus a drink, saying, "Wait! Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down!"
15:37 Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
15:38 The curtain in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
15:39 When the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw how he had cried out and breathed his last, he said, "This man certainly was the Son of God!"
15:40 Now there were women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of young James and Joseph, and Salome.
15:41 They used to accompany him and care for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there, too.
15:42 It was the Day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath. Since it was already evening,
15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Council, who was waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
15:44 Pilate was amazed to hear that Jesus had already died, so he summoned the centurion to ask him if he was in fact dead.
15:45 When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he let Joseph have the corpse.
15:46 Joseph bought some linen cloth, took the body down, wrapped it in the cloth, laid it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
15:47 Now Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph observed where the body had been laid.
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