Matthew 27:15–31
15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisonerq chosen by the crowd. 16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesusb Barabbas. 17 So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”r 18 For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.
19 While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat,s his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocentt man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dreamu because of him.”
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.v
21 “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.
“Barabbas,” they answered.
22 “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”w Pilate asked.
They all answered, “Crucify him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”
24 When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproarx was starting, he took water and washed his handsy in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,”z he said. “It is your responsibility!”a
25 All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”b
26 Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged,c and handed him over to be crucified.
27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetoriumd and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,e 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.f 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.g 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.h