Luke 23:26–49

Jesus Is Crucified

²⁶The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him. ²⁸Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem! Don’t cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. ²⁹For the days are coming when people will say, ‘How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!’ ^30*That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Hide us!’ ³¹For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³²Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. ³³When they came to the place called “The Skull”, they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. ^34*Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don’t know what they are doing.”^d

They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. ^35*The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders jeered at him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!”

^36*The soldiers also mocked him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, ³⁷and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!”

³⁸Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don’t you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. ⁴¹Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” ⁴²And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”

⁴³Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

The Death of Jesus

^44–45It was about twelve o’clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o’clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. ^46*Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father! In your hands I place my spirit!” He said this and died.

⁴⁷The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, “Certainly he was a good man!”

⁴⁸When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. ^49*All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.