Luke 23:1–24

Jesus Is Brought Before Pilate

23The whole group rose up and took Jesus before Pilate, ²where they began to accuse him: “We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

³Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“So you say,” answered Jesus.

⁴Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no reason to condemn this man.”

⁵But they insisted even more strongly, “With his teaching he is starting a riot among the people all through Judea. He began in Galilee and now has come here.”

Jesus Is Sent to Herod

⁶When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man a Galilean?” ⁷When he learnt that Jesus was from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. ⁸Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been wanting to see him for a long time. He was hoping to see Jesus perform some miracle. ⁹So Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus made no answer. ¹⁰The chief priests and the teachers of the Law stepped forward and made strong accusations against Jesus. ¹¹Herod and his soldiers mocked Jesus and treated him with contempt; then they put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹²On that very day Herod and Pilate became friends; before this they had been enemies.

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death

¹³Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, ¹⁴and said to them, “You brought this man to me and said that he was misleading the people. Now, I have examined him here in your presence, and I have not found him guilty of any of the crimes you accuse him of. ¹⁵Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him back to us. There is nothing this man has done to deserve death. ¹⁶So I will have him whipped and let him go.”^c

¹⁸The whole crowd cried out, “Kill him! Set Barabbas free for us!” ¹⁹(Barabbas had been put in prison for a riot that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he appealed to the crowd again. ²¹But they shouted back, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²²Pilate said to them the third time, “But what crime has he committed? I cannot find anything he has done to deserve death! I will have him whipped and set him free.” ²³But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices that Jesus should be crucified, and finally their shouting succeeded. ²⁴So Pilate passed the sentence on Jesus that they were asking for.