Chapter 19

1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped.

2The soldiers twisted thorn branches into a crown and placed it on his head. They also wrapped him in a purple robe.

3They kept coming up to him and saying, “Long live the king of the Jews!” Then they slapped him in the face.

4Pilate went outside again and told the people, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you will know I find no basis for a charge against him.”

5Jesus came outside wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

6When the chief priests and their officers saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate told them, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, because I find no basis for a charge against him.”

7The Jewish leaders answered, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be God’s Son.”

8When Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid.

9He went back into the governor’s headquarters and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.

10Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Don’t you know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”

11Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, the person who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater wrong.”

12From then on, Pilate tried to release Jesus. But the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are not loyal to Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

13When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, or Gabbatha in the local Jewish language.

14It was the day of preparation for the Passover festival, at about noon. Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Here is your king!”

15They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Should I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

16Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. They took custody of Jesus.

17Carrying the cross himself, Jesus went out to the place called the Place of the Skull, or Golgotha in the local Jewish language.

18There they crucified him, along with two others—one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

19Pilate also wrote a notice and placed it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

20Many Jewish people read the notice because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was written in the Jewish language, Latin, and Greek.

21The Jewish chief priests told Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews.’ Write instead, ‘This man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

22Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23After the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which had no seams but was woven in one piece from top to bottom.

24The soldiers said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s draw lots to see who gets it.” This happened so that the words of Scripture would be fulfilled: “They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.” That is what the soldiers did.

25Standing near Jesus’ cross were his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

26When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.”

27Then Jesus said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, the disciple took her into his own home.

28After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed. To bring the words of Scripture to completion, he said, “I am thirsty.”

29A container full of sour wine was there. They soaked a sponge in the wine, attached it to a hyssop stalk, and held it to his mouth.

30After Jesus received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and breathed his last.

31It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath rest day, especially since that Sabbath was a particularly important day. So they asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and their bodies taken down.

32The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus.

33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

34Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, and blood and water immediately came out.

35The person who saw this has given this account. His account is true, and he knows he is telling the truth, so that you too may believe.

36These things happened so that the words of Jewish Scripture would be fulfilled: “None of his bones will be broken.”

37Another passage of Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.”

38After this, Joseph from Arimathea asked Pilate for permission to take away Jesus’ body. Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. Pilate gave permission, so Joseph came and took the body away.

39Nicodemus, who had first visited Jesus at night, also came. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred Roman pounds—roughly seventy-two modern pounds, or thirty-three kilograms.

40They took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in strips of linen with the spices, following the Jewish burial custom.

41There was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified. In the garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed.

42Because it was the Jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus there.