Mark 15:15–39

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.

¹⁶The soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium) and called all the other soldiers together. ¹⁷They put a purple robe on Jesus and used thorny branches to make a crown for his head. ¹⁸They began to call out to him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. They spit on him and made fun of him by bowing on their knees and worshiping him. ²⁰After they finished, the soldiers took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him out of the palace to be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified

²¹A man named Simon from Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was coming from the fields to the city. The soldiers forced Simon to carry the cross for Jesus. ²²They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. ²³The soldiers tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he refused. ²⁴The soldiers crucified Jesus and divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots to decide what each soldier would get.

²⁵It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Jesus. ²⁶There was a sign with this charge against Jesus written on it: the king of the jews. ²⁷They also put two robbers on crosses beside Jesus, one on the right, and the other on the left. ²⁸And the Scripture came true that says, “They put him with criminals.” ^{n 29}People walked by and insulted Jesus and shook their heads, saying, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. ³⁰So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”

³¹The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also making fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved other people, but he can’t save himself. ³²If he is really the Christ, the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross. When we see this, we will believe in him.” The robbers who were being crucified beside Jesus also insulted him.

Jesus Dies

³³At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours. ³⁴At three o’clock Jesus cried in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

³⁵When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.”

³⁶Someone there ran and got a sponge, filled it with vinegar, tied it to a stick, and gave it to Jesus to drink. He said, “We want to see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”

³⁷Then Jesus cried in a loud voice and died.

³⁸The curtain in the Temple ⁿ was torn into two pieces, from the top to the bottom. ³⁹When the army officer who was standing in front of the cross saw what happened when Jesus died, ⁿ he said, “This man really was the Son of God!”