Matthew 27:15–31

JESUS OR BARABBAS

¹⁵At the festivalⁿ the governor’s custom was to release to the crowd a prisoner they wanted. ¹⁶At that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. ¹⁷So when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Who is it you want me to release for you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”^{o 18}For he knew it was because of envy that they had handed him over.

¹⁹While he was sitting on the judge’s bench, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for today I’ve suffered terribly in a dream because of him.”^p

²⁰The chief priests and the elders, however, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to execute Jesus. ²¹The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?”

“Barabbas!” they answered.

²²Pilate asked them, “What should I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ?”

They all answered, “Crucify him!”^q

²³Then he said, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they kept shouting all the more, “Crucify him!”^r

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was starting instead, he took some water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood.^D See to it yourselves!”^s

²⁵All the people answered, “His blood be on us^t and on our children!” ²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them and, after having Jesus flogged, handed him over to be crucified.^u

MOCKED BY THE MILITARY

²⁷Then^v the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole company^E around him.^{w 28}They stripped him and dressed him in a scarlet robe.^{x 29}They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. And they knelt down before him and mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ³⁰Then they spat on him, took the staff, and kept hitting him on the head. ³¹After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.^a