John 19–20

Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified

19Then Pilate took Jesus and ^qflogged him. ^2rAnd the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. ³They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. ⁴Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that ^sI find no guilt in him.” ⁵So Jesus came out, wearing ^tthe crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ^u“Behold the man!” ⁶When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, ^v“Take him yourselves and crucify him, for ^wI find no guilt in him.” ⁷The Jews¹ answered him, “We have a law, and ^xaccording to that law he ought to die because ^yhe has made himself the Son of God.” ⁸When Pilate heard this statement, ^zhe was even more afraid. ^9aHe entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ^b“Where are you from?” But ^cJesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” ¹¹Jesus answered him, ^d“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ^ehe who delivered me over to you ^fhas the greater sin.”

¹²From then on ^gPilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. ^hEveryone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on ⁱthe judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic² Gabbatha. ¹⁴Now it was ^jthe day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.³ He said to the Jews, ^k“Behold your King!” ¹⁵They cried out, ^l“Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” ^16mSo he ⁿdelivered him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus, ¹⁷and ^ohe went out, ^pbearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ^18qThere they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. ¹⁹Pilate ^ralso wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰Many of the Jews read this inscription, for ^sthe place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’ ” ²²Pilate answered, ^t“What I have written I have written.”

^23uWhen the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.⁴ But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, ²⁴so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” ^vThis was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

^w“They divided my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things, ^25xbut standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and ^ythe disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ^z“Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to ^ahis own home.

The Death of Jesus

²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now ^bfinished, said (^vto fulfill the Scripture), ^c“I thirst.” ²⁹A jar full of sour wine stood there, ^dso they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ^e“It is finished,” and he bowed his head and ^fgave up his spirit.

Jesus’ Side Is Pierced

³¹Since it was ^gthe day of Preparation, and ^hso that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was ⁱa high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. ³²So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other ^jwho had been crucified with him. ³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out ^kblood and water. ^35lHe who saw it has borne witness—^mhis testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—ⁿthat you also may believe. ^36oFor these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ^p“Not one of his bones ^qwill be broken.” ³⁷And again another Scripture says, ^r“They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Jesus Is Buried

^38sAfter these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly ^tfor fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body. ^39uNicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus⁵ by night, came ^vbringing a mixture of ^wmyrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds⁶ in weight. ⁴⁰So they took the body of Jesus and ^xbound it in ^ylinen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹Now in the place where he was crucified there was a ^zgarden, and ^ain the garden a new tomb ^bin which no one had yet been laid. ⁴²So because of the Jewish ^cday of Preparation, ^dsince the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

The Resurrection

20^eNow on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that ^fthe stone had been taken away from the tomb. ²So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, ^gthe one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and ^hwe do not know where they have laid him.” ³ⁱSo Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. ⁴Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵And stooping to look in, he saw ^jthe linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. ⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷and ^kthe face cloth, which had been on Jesus’¹ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸Then the other disciple, ^lwho had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; ⁹for as yet ^mthey did not understand the Scripture, ⁿthat he must rise from the dead. ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. ¹²And ^oshe saw ^ptwo angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. ¹³They said to her, ^q“Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, ^r“They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” ¹⁴Having said this, she turned around and ^ssaw Jesus standing, ^tbut she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, ^u“Woman, why are you weeping? ^vWhom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be ^wthe gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic,^{2 x}“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to ^ymy brothers and say to them, ^z‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to ^amy God and your God.’ ” ¹⁸Mary Magdalene ^bwent and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples

^19cOn the evening ^dof that day, the first day of the week, ^ethe doors being locked where the disciples were ^ffor fear of the Jews,³ Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, ^g“Peace be with you.” ²⁰When he had said this, ^hhe showed them his hands and his side. Then ⁱthe disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As ^jthe Father has sent me, ^keven so I am sending you.” ²²And when he had said this, he ^lbreathed on them and said to them, ^m“Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ⁿIf you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

Jesus and Thomas

²⁴Now ^oThomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin,⁴ was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, ^p“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

²⁶Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. ^qAlthough the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ^q“Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, ^r“Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, ^s“My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? ^tBlessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of This Book

^30uNow Jesus did many other signs ^vin the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ^31wbut these are written so that you may ^xbelieve that Jesus is the Christ, ^ythe Son of God, and that by believing ^zyou may have life ^ain his name.