15:1 As soon as morning came, the chief priests with the elders and the scribes, that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
15:2 Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” He said to him in reply, “You say so.”
15:3 The chief priests accused him of many things.
15:4 Again Pilate questioned him, “Have you no answer? See how many things they accuse you of.”
15:5 Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.
15:6 Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them one prisoner whom they requested.
15:7 A man called Barabbas was then in prison along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.
15:8 The crowd came forward and began to ask him to do for them as he was accustomed.
15:9 Pilate answered, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
15:10 For he knew that it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed him over.
15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
15:12 Pilate again said to them in reply, “Then what [do you want] me to do with [the man you call] the king of the Jews?”
15:14 Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”
15:15 So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
15:16 The soldiers led him away inside the palace, that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.
15:17 They clothed him in purple and, weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.
15:18 They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
15:19 and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him. They knelt before him in homage.
15:20 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him out to crucify him.
15:21 They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
15:22 They brought him to the place of Golgotha (which is translated Place of the Skull).
15:23 They gave him wine drugged with myrrh, but he did not take it.
15:24 Then they crucified him and divided his garments by casting lots for them to see what each should take.
15:25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
15:26 The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”
15:27 With him they crucified two revolutionaries, one on his right and one on his left.
15:29 Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
15:30 save yourself by coming down from the cross.”
15:31 Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves and said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.
15:32 Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.
15:33 At noon darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.
15:34 And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
15:35 Some of the bystanders who heard it said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.”
15:36 One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
15:37 Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.
15:38 The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
15:39 When the centurion who stood facing him saw how he breathed his last he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
15:40 There were also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome.
15:41 These women had followed him when he was in Galilee and ministered to him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
15:42 When it was already evening, since it was the day of preparation, the day before the sabbath,
15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a distinguished member of the council, who was himself awaiting the kingdom of God, came and courageously went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
15:44 Pilate was amazed that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him if Jesus had already died.
15:45 And when he learned of it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.
15:46 Having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth and laid him in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb.
15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where he was laid.
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