15Very early in the morning, the leading priests, the elders, the teachers of the law, and all the Jewish council decided what to do with Jesus. They tied him, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate, the governor.

²Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Those are your words.”

³The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. ⁴So Pilate asked Jesus another question, “You can see that they are accusing you of many things. Aren’t you going to answer?”

⁵But Jesus still said nothing, so Pilate was very surprised.

Pilate Tries to Free Jesus

⁶Every year at the time of the Passover the governor would free one prisoner whom the people chose. ⁷At that time, there was a man named Barabbas in prison who was a rebel and had committed murder during a riot. ⁸The crowd came to Pilate and began to ask him to free a prisoner as he always did.

⁹So Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰Pilate knew that the leading priests had turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous. ¹¹But the leading priests had persuaded the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.

¹²Then Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he freed Barabbas for them. After having Jesus beaten with whips, he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.

Read in Logos

Mark 15:2: And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.”