Mark 15:1–21

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