Luke 23:26–49

Simon Bears the Cross

^26aWhen they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of ^bCyrene, coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷And following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were ^1amourning and lamenting Him.

²⁸But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹“For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘^aBlessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’

³⁰“Then they will begin to ^asay to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’

³¹“For if they do these things ¹when the tree is green, what will happen ²when it is dry?”

^32aTwo others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him.

The Crucifixion

^33aWhen they came to the place called ¹The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

³⁴¹But Jesus was saying, “^aFather, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” ^bAnd they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.

³⁵And the people stood by, looking on. And even the ^arulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; ^blet Him save Himself if this is the ¹Christ of God, His Chosen One.”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, ^aoffering Him sour wine,

³⁷and saying, “^aIf You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!”

³⁸Now there was also an inscription above Him, “^aTHIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

^39aOne of the criminals who were hanged there was ¹hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the ²Christ? ^bSave Yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

⁴¹“And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving ¹what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come ¹in Your kingdom!”

⁴³And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in ^aParadise.”

^44aIt was now about ^1bthe sixth hour, and darkness ²fell over the whole land until ³the ninth hour,

⁴⁵¹because the sun was obscured; and ^athe veil of the temple was torn ²in two.

⁴⁶And Jesus, ^acrying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, ^binto Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

^47aNow when the centurion saw what had happened, he began ^bpraising God, saying, “Certainly this man was ¹innocent.”

⁴⁸And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, when they observed what had happened, began to return, ^1abeating their breasts.

^49aAnd all His acquaintances and the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.