John 18:39–19:16

³⁹But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.^a

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified

19:1–16pp—Mt 27:27–31; Mk 15:16–20

19Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.^{b 2}The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!”^c And they slapped him in the face.^d

⁴Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out^e to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”^{f 5}When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,^g Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him.^h As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”ⁱ

⁷The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die,^j because he claimed to be the Son of God.”^k

⁸When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹and he went back inside the palace.^l “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.^{m 10}“Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.ⁿ Therefore the one who handed me over to you^o is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king^p opposes Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat^q at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic^r is Gabbatha). ¹⁴It was the day of Preparation^s of the Passover; it was about noon.^t

“Here is your king,”^u Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.^v

The Crucifixion of Jesus

19:17–24pp—Mt 27:33–44; Mk 15:22–32; Lk 23:33–43

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.