Mark 15:1–21

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. ^b