Mark 15

JESUS FACES PILATE

15As^b soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders,^c scribes,^d and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests^e tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.^f

²So Pilate asked him, “Are you the king^g of the Jews?”^h

He answered him, “You say so.”

³And the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴Pilateⁱ questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Look how many things they are accusing you of!” ⁵But Jesus still did not answer, and so Pilate was amazed.

JESUS OR BARABBAS

⁶At^j the festival^k Pilate^l used to release for the people a prisoner whom they requested. ⁷There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murder^m during the rebellion.^{n 8}The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. ⁹Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king^o of the Jews^p for you?” ¹⁰For he knew it was because of envy^q that the chief priests had handed him over. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead. ¹²Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³Again they shouted, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

MOCKED BY THE MILITARY

¹⁶The^r soldiers led him away into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence^s) and called the whole company together. ¹⁷They dressed him in a purple^t robe, twisted together a crown^u of thorns, and put it on him. ¹⁸And they began to salute him, “Hail,^v king^w of the Jews!” ¹⁹They were hitting him on the head with a stick and spitting on him. Getting down on their knees,^x they were paying him homage. ²⁰After they had mocked^y him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his clothes on him.

CRUCIFIED BETWEEN TWO CRIMINALS

They led him out to crucify him. ²¹They^z forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’s cross.^aa He was Simon of Cyrene,^ab the father of Alexander and Rufus.^ac

²²They^ad brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull^ae). ²³They tried to give him wine^af mixed with myrrh,^ag but he did not take it.

²⁴Then they crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots^ah for them to decide what each would get. ²⁵Now it was nine in the morning^A when they crucified him. ²⁶The inscription of the charge written against him was: The King^ai of the Jews.^{aj 27}They^ak crucified two criminals^Bal with him, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁹Those^am who passed by were yelling insults^an at^A him, shaking their heads,^ao and saying, “Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,^{ap 30}save yourself by coming down from the cross!”^{aq 31}In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes^ar were mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! ³²Let the Messiah,^as the King^at of Israel,^au come down now from the cross,^av so that we may see and believe.”^aw Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.

THE DEATH OF JESUS

³³When^ax it was noon,^B darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.^{ay 34}And at three Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá sabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”^Daz

³⁵When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “See, he’s calling for Elijah.”

³⁶Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a stick, offered him a drink,^ba and said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

³⁷Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸Then the curtain^bb of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹When the centurion, who was standing opposite him, saw the way he^E breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”^Fa

⁴⁰There^b were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene,^c Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹In Galilee^d these women followed him and took care of him. Many other women had come up with him to Jerusalem.^e

THE BURIAL OF JESUS

⁴²When^f it was already evening, because it was the day of preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath), ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forward^g to the kingdom of God,^h came and boldly went to Pilateⁱ and asked for Jesus’s body.^{j 44}Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had already died. ⁴⁵When he found out from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶After he bought some linen cloth, Joseph took him down and wrapped him in the linen. Then he laid him in a tomb^k cut out of the rock and rolled a stone^l against the entrance to the tomb. ⁴⁷Mary Magdalene^m and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid.