Mark 15:1–21

Jesus before Pilate

^1aEarly in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole ^1bCouncil, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate.

^2aPilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him, “It is as you say.”

³The chief priests began to accuse Him ¹harshly.

⁴Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!”

⁵But Jesus ^amade no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

^6aNow at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.

⁷The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.

⁸The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them.

⁹Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

¹⁰For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd ^ato ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.

¹²Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted ¹back, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁴But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁵Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus ^ascourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^16aThe soldiers took Him away into ^bthe ¹palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman ^2ccohort.

¹⁷They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him;

¹⁸and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

¹⁹They kept beating His head with a ¹reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.

²⁰After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.

^21aThey pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and ^bRufus), to bear His cross.