John 19–20

JESUS FLOGGED AND MOCKED

19Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²The soldiers also twisted together a crown^v of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe. ³And they kept coming up to him^w and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and were slapping his face.

⁴Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I’m bringing him out to you to let you know I find no grounds^x for charging him.” ⁵Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.^y Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”^z

PILATE SENTENCES JESUS TO DEATH

⁶When the chief priests and the temple servants^D saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate responded, “Take him and crucify him yourselves, since I find no grounds for charging him.”

⁷“We have a law,” the Jews replied to him, “and according to that law he ought to die,^aa because he made himself the Son of God.”^ab

⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he was more afraid than ever. ⁹He went back into the headquarters^ac and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer.^{ad 10}So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?”

¹¹“You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”^ae

¹²From that moment Pilate kept trying^A to release him. But the Jews shouted, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Anyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar!”

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat in a place called the Stone Pavement (but in Aramaic, Gabbatha). ¹⁴It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon.^C Then he told the Jews, “Here is your king!”

¹⁵They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”

“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶Then he handed him over to be crucified.

THE CRUCIFIXION

Then they took Jesus away.^{D 17}Carrying^a the cross by himself,^b he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹Pilate also had a sign made and put on the cross. It said: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. ²⁰Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,^c and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. ²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews,’^d but that he said, ‘I am the king of the Jews.’ ”

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

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” This happened that the Scripture^e might be fulfilled^f that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing.^Eg This is what the soldiers did.

JESUS’S PROVISION FOR HIS MOTHER

²⁵Standing^h by the crossⁱ of Jesus were his mother,^j his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.^{k 26}When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved^l standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

THE FINISHED WORK OF JESUS

²⁸After^m this, when Jesus knew that everything was now finishedⁿ that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he said, “I’m thirsty.”^{o 29}A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they fixed a sponge full of sour wine on a hyssop branch^p and held it up to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.”^q Then bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.^r

JESUS’S SIDE PIERCED

³¹Since it was the preparation day,^s the Jews did not want the bodies^t to remain on the cross^u on the Sabbath^v (for that Sabbath was a special^A day). They requested that Pilate have the men’s legs broken and that their bodies be taken away.^{w 32}So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other one who had been crucified with him. ³³When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead.^{x 34}But one of the soldiers pierced^y his side^z with a spear, and at once blood and water^aa came out. ³⁵He who saw this has testified^ab so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth.^{ac 36}For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled:^ad Not one of his bones will be broken.^{Bae 37}Also, another Scripture says: They will look at the one they pierced.^Caf

JESUS’S BURIAL

³⁸After^ag this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body.^ah Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. ³⁹Nicodemus^ai (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds^D of myrrh and aloes. ⁴⁰They took Jesus’s body^aj and wrapped it in linen cloths^ak with the fragrant spices, according to the burial^al custom of the Jews. ⁴¹There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. ⁴²They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.

THE EMPTY TOMB

20On^a the first day of the week^b Mary Magdalene^c came to the tomb^d early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone^e had been removed from the tomb. ²So she went running to Simon Peter^f and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord out of the tomb,^g and we don’t know where they’ve put him!”

³At that, Peter and the other disciple went out, heading for the tomb. ⁴The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and got to the tomb first. ⁵Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths^h lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then, following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. ⁷The wrappingⁱ that had been on his head was not lying with the linen cloths^j but was folded up in a separate place by itself. ⁸The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, then also went in, saw, and believed. ⁹For they did not yet understand the Scripture^k that he must rise^l from the dead.^{m 10}Then the disciples returned to the place where they were staying.

MARY MAGDALENE SEES THE RISEN LORD

¹¹Butⁿ Mary stood outside the tomb,^o crying. As she was crying, she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹²She saw two angels^p in white sitting where Jesus’s body^q had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“Because they’ve taken away my Lord,”^r she told them, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”

¹⁴Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.^{s 15}“Woman,” Jesus said to her, “why are you crying? Who is it that you’re seeking?”

Supposing he was the gardener, she replied, “Sir, if you’ve carried him away, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will take him away.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

Turning around, she said to him in Aramaic,^A “Rabboni!”—which means “Teacher.”^t

¹⁷“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended^u to the Father.^v But go to my brothers^w and tell them that I am ascending to my Father^x and your Father, to my God^y and your God.”

¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!”^z And she told them what^B he had said to her.

THE DISCIPLES COMMISSIONED

¹⁹When it was evening on that first day of the week,^aa the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^ab

²⁰Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side.^ac So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me,^ad I also send you.”^{ae 22}After saying this, he breathed on them^af and said,^C “Receive the Holy Spirit.^{ag 23}If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”^ah

THOMAS SEES AND BELIEVES

²⁴But Thomas^ai (called “Twin”^D), one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples were telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “If I don’t see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails,^aj and put my hand into his side,^ak I will never believe.”^al

²⁶A week later his disciples were indoors again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don’t be faithless, but believe.”^am

²⁸Thomas responded to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹Jesus said, “Because you have seen me, you have believed.^E Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”^an

THE PURPOSE OF THIS GOSPEL

³⁰Jesus performed many other signs^ao in the presence of his disciples that are not written^ap in this book.^{aq 31}But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah,^a the Son^b of God,^Ac and that by believing you may have life in his name.^d