Mark 15:1–21

Jesus Is Brought before Pilate

15Early in the morning the chief priests met hurriedly with the elders, the teachers of the Law, and the whole Council, and made their plans. They put Jesus in chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ²Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “So you say.”

³The chief priests were accusing Jesus of many things, ⁴so Pilate questioned him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? Listen to all their accusations!”

⁵Again Jesus refused to say a word, and Pilate was amazed.

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death

⁶At every Passover Festival Pilate was in the habit of setting free any one prisoner the people asked for. ⁷At that time a man named Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder in the riot. ⁸When the crowd gathered and began to ask Pilate for the usual favour, ⁹he asked them, “Do you want me to set free for you the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰He knew very well that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask, instead, for Pilate to set Barabbas free for them. ¹²Pilate spoke again to the crowd, “What, then, do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴“But what crime has he committed?” Pilate asked.

They shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free for them. Then he had Jesus whipped and handed him over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Mock Jesus

¹⁶The soldiers took Jesus inside to the courtyard of the governor’s palace and called together the rest of the company. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown out of thorny branches, and put it on his head. ¹⁸Then they began to salute him: “Long live the King of the Jews!” ¹⁹They beat him over the head with a stick, spat on him, fell on their knees, and bowed down to him. ²⁰When they had finished mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

Jesus Is Crucified

^21*On the way they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was from Cyrene and was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)