15Verse 1As soon as it was early morning, having already formed a plan, the chief priests with the elders and scribes, indeed the whole council, bound Jesus, led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate.+
Jesus before Pilate
Verse 2Pilate asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” So in answer He said to him, “You stated a fact!”Verse 3But the chief priests kept accusing Him of many things.Verse 4So Pilate asked Him again, saying: “Are you not going to answer? See how many things they are testifying against you!”Verse 5But Jesus still gave no answer, so that Pilate marveled.+
Barabbas
Verse 6Now at the feast he would release to them one prisoner, whomever they would request.Verse 7Well there was one called Barabbas, who had been bound with his fellow insurrectionists, who in the insurrection had committed murder.Verse 8Then the crowd began to call out+and request that he do just as he always did for them.Verse 9So Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”Verse 10(He knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.)Verse 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that he should release Barabbas to them instead.Verse 12Pilate answered and said to them again, “What then do you want me to do to him you call ‘king of the Jews’?”Verse 13Again they shouted, “Crucify him!”Verse 14But Pilate said to them, “But what evil did he do?” They just yelled all the louder, “Crucify him!”Verse 15So Pilate, wanting to gratify the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and Jesus, after a flogging, he handed over to be crucified.+
Soldiers have a little ‘fun’
Verse 16Then the soldiers led Him away into the courtyard (that is, the Praetorium) and assembled the whole garrison.Verse 17They clothed Him with purple, plaited a crown of thorns and put it on Him,Verse 18and began to ‘acclaim’ Him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”Verse 19They kept hitting Him on the head with a rod+and spitting on Him, and kneeling down they would ‘worship’ Him.Verse 20When they had ridiculed Him, they took the purple off Him and put His own clothes on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.
The crucifixion
Verse 21A certain passer-by, Simon a Cyrenian (the father of Alexander and Rufus),+coming in from the countryside, was compelled to carry His cross.+Verse 22They brought Him to a place Golgotha, which is translated, ‘Place of a Skull’.Verse 23They offered Him wine mixed with myrrh to drink,+but He did not take it.Verse 24After crucifying Him, they divided His clothes by casting lots for them, to see who would take what.Verse 25It was the third hour+when they crucified Him.Verse 26The statement of His ‘crime’ that had been written was: THE KING OF THE JEWS.Verse 27With Him they also crucified two bandits, one on His right and one on His left.Verse 28So the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”+Verse 29Those who passed by kept ridiculing Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Hey! You who can destroy the temple and build it in three days,Verse 30save yourself and come down from the cross!”Verse 31Similarly, the chief priests, with the scribes, kept mocking among themselves saying: “He saved others; he can't save himself!+Verse 32Let the Christ, the king of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe him.”+Those who were crucified with Him insulted Him as well.+Verse 33Now when the sixth hour had come [noon], darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.+Verse 34At the ninth hour Jesus called out strongly, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lima sabachthani?” which is translated, “O God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”+Verse 35When some of the bystanders heard it they said, “Listen, he's calling Elijah.”Verse 36Then someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a reed and started offering it to Him to drink, saying, “You let him be! ‘Let's see if Elijah is coming to take him down’!”+Verse 37Then Jesus gave a loud shout and breathed out His spirit;+Verse 38and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.+Verse 39Well when the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw that He breathed out His spirit after giving such a loud shout,+he said, “This man really was God's Son!”+Verse 40There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joses, and SalomeVerse 41—they used to follow Him and minister to Him when He was in Galilee—and many other women who had come up with Him to Jerusalem.
The burial
Verse 42Now when evening had come, because it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath),Verse 43Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member who also himself was waiting for the Kingdom of God, came and boldly went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.Verse 44Well Pilate was surprised that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion he asked him when He had died.+Verse 45Upon the centurion's confirmation he granted the body to Joseph.Verse 46Having bought linen, he took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen and laid Him in a tomb that had been cut out of rock; then he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.+Verse 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was placed.+