Mark 15

Chapter 15

Jesus before Pilate

^1aEarly in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole ^1bCouncil, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate.

^2aPilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him, “It is as you say.”

³The chief priests began to accuse Him ¹harshly.

⁴Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!”

⁵But Jesus ^amade no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

^6aNow at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested.

⁷The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection.

⁸The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them.

⁹Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”

¹⁰For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd ^ato ask him to release Barabbas for them instead.

¹²Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted ¹back, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁴But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!”

¹⁵Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus ^ascourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^16aThe soldiers took Him away into ^bthe ¹palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they called together the whole Roman ^2ccohort.

¹⁷They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him;

¹⁸and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

¹⁹They kept beating His head with a ¹reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him.

²⁰After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him.

^21aThey pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and ^bRufus), to bear His cross.

The Crucifixion

^22aThen they brought Him to the place ^bGolgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull.

²³They tried to give Him ^awine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.

²⁴And they crucified Him, and ^adivided up His garments among themselves, casting ¹lots for them to decide ²what each man should take.

²⁵It was the ^1athird hour ²when they crucified Him.

²⁶The inscription of the charge against Him ¹read, “^aTHE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left.

²⁸¹And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”

²⁹Those passing by were ¹hurling abuse at Him, ^awagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to ^bdestroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

³⁰save Yourself, and come down from the cross!”

³¹In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “^aHe saved others; ¹He cannot save Himself.

³²“Let this Christ, ^athe King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” ^bThose who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

^33aWhen the ^1bsixth hour came, darkness ²fell over the whole land until the ³ninth hour.

³⁴At the ^aninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “^bEloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

³⁵When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.”

³⁶Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “¹Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.”

^37aAnd Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last.

^38aAnd the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

^39aWhen the centurion, who was standing ¹right in front of Him, saw ²the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was ³the Son of God!”

^40aThere were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of ¹James ^bthe ²Less and Joses, and ^cSalome.

⁴¹When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and ^1aminister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

^42aWhen evening had already come, because it was ^bthe preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

⁴³Joseph of Arimathea came, a ^aprominent member of the Council, who himself was ^bwaiting for the kingdom of God; and he ^cgathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁴⁴Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead.

⁴⁵And ascertaining this from ^athe centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.

⁴⁶Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

^47aMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.