Mark 15

Jesus Faces Pilate

15As ^ysoon as it was morning, the chief priests had a meeting with the elders, ^zscribes, ^aand the whole Sanhedrin. ^bAfter tying Jesus up, they led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate. ^c

²So Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King ^dof the Jews?” ^e

He answered him, “You have said it.” ^f

³And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things. ⁴Then Pilate ^gquestioned Him again, “Are You not answering anything? Look how many things they are accusing You of!” ⁵But Jesus still did not answer anything, so Pilate was amazed.

Jesus or Barabbas

⁶At ^hthe festival ⁱit was Pilate’s ^jcustom to release for the people a prisoner they requested. ⁷There was one named Barabbas, who was in prison with rebels who had committed murder ^kduring the rebellion. ^l8The crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do for them as was his custom. ⁹So Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the King ^mof the Jews ⁿfor you?” ¹⁰For he knew it was because of envy ^othat the chief priests had handed Him over. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead.

¹²Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³Again they shouted, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁴Then Pilate said to them, “Why? What has He done wrong?”

But they shouted, “Crucify Him!” all the more.

¹⁵Then, willing to gratify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. And after having Jesus flogged, ^phe handed Him over to be crucified.

Mocked by the Military

¹⁶Then ^qthe soldiers led Him away into the courtyard (that is, headquarters ^r) and called the whole company together. ¹⁷They dressed Him in a purple ^srobe, twisted together a crown ^tof thorns, and put it on Him. ¹⁸And they began to salute Him, “Hail, ^uKing ^vof the Jews!” ¹⁹They kept hitting Him on the head with a reed and spitting on Him. Getting down on their knees, ^wthey were paying Him homage. ²⁰When they had mocked ^xHim, they stripped Him of the purple robe, put His clothes on Him, and led Him out to crucify Him.

Crucified between Two Criminals

²¹They ^yforced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus’ cross. ^zHe was Simon, a Cyrenian, ^athe father of Alexander and Rufus. ^b22And ^cthey brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means Skull Place ^d). ²³They tried to give Him wine ^emixed with myrrh, ^fbut He did not take it. ²⁴Then they crucified Him and divided His clothes, casting lots ^gfor them to decide what each would get. ²⁵Now it was nine in the morning ^hwhen they crucified Him. ²⁶The inscription of the charge written against Him was:

THE KING ⁱOF THE JEWS. ^j

²⁷They ^kcrucified two criminals ^lmwith Him, one on His right and one on His left. [²⁸So the Scripture was fulfilled that says: And He was counted among outlaws.] ^nop29Those ^qwho passed by were yelling insults ^rat ^sHim, shaking their heads, ^tand saying, “Ha! The One who would demolish the sanctuary and build it in three days, ^u30save Yourself by coming down from the cross!” ^v31In the same way, the chief priests with the scribes ^wwere mocking Him to one another and saying, “He saved others; He cannot save Himself! ³²Let the Messiah, ^xthe King ^yof Israel, ^zcome down now from the cross, ^aso that we may see and believe.” ^bEven those who were crucified with Him were taunting Him.

The Death of Jesus

³³When ^cit was noon, ^ddarkness came over the whole land ^euntil three in the afternoon. ^fg34And at three ^hJesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lemá ⁱsabachtháni?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ^jk

³⁵When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Look, He’s calling for Elijah!” ³⁶Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, fixed it on a reed, offered Him a drink, ^land said, “Let’s see if Elijah comes to take Him down!”

³⁷But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last. ³⁸Then the curtain ^mof the sanctuary ⁿwas split in two from top to bottom. ³⁹When the centurion, who was standing opposite Him, saw the way He ^obreathed His last, he said, “This man really was God’s Son!” ^pq

⁴⁰There ^rwere also women looking on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, ^sMary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. ⁴¹When He was in Galilee, ^tthey would follow Him and help Him. Many other women had come up with Him to Jerusalem. ^u

The Burial of Jesus

⁴²When ^vit was already evening, because it was preparation day (that is, the day before the Sabbath), ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forward ^wto the kingdom of God, ^xcame and boldly went in to Pilate ^yand asked for Jesus’ body. ^z44Pilate was surprised that He was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether He had already died. ⁴⁵When he found out from the centurion, he gave the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶After he bought some fine linen, he took Him down and wrapped Him in the linen. Then he placed Him in a tomb ^acut out of the rock, and rolled a stone ^bagainst the entrance to the tomb. ⁴⁷Now ^cMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where He was placed.