Jesus Before Pilate

28 qThen they led Jesus rfrom the house of Caiaphas to sthe governor’s headquarters.6 It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the governor’s headquarters, tso that they would not be defiled, ubut could eat the Passover. 29 vSo Pilate went outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have delivered him over to you.” 31 Pilate said to them, w“Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” The Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” 32 xThis was to fulfill the word that Jesus had spoken yto show by what kind of death he was going to die.

My Kingdom Is Not of This World

33 zSo Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, a“Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, b“My kingdom cis not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, dmy servants would have been fighting, that eI might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, f“You say that I am a king. gFor this purpose I was born and for this purpose hI have come into the world—ito bear witness to the truth. jEveryone who is kof the truth llistens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

After he had said this, mhe went back outside to the Jews and told them, n“I find no guilt in him. 39 oBut you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” 40 They cried out again, p“Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.7

Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and qflogged him. 2 rAnd the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. 4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that sI find no guilt in him.” 5 So Jesus came out, wearing tthe crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, u“Behold the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, v“Take him yourselves and crucify him, for wI find no guilt in him.” 7 The Jews1 answered him, “We have a law, and xaccording to that law he ought to die because yhe has made himself the Son of God.” 8 When Pilate heard this statement, zhe was even more afraid. 9 aHe entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, b“Where are you from?” But cJesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, d“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ehe who delivered me over to you fhas the greater sin.”

12 From then on gPilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. hEveryone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” 13 So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on ithe judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic2 Gabbatha. 14 Now it was jthe day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.3 He said to the Jews, k“Behold your King!” 15 They cried out, l“Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 mSo he ndelivered him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus, 17 and ohe went out, pbearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. 18 qThere they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate ralso wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for sthe place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. 21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” 22 Pilate answered, t“What I have written I have written.”