Chapter 15

  Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.  

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  Pilate asked him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?' He answered, 'So you say.'  

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  The chief priests accused him of many things.  

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  Pilate again asked him, 'Have you no answer? See how many things they testify against you!'  

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  But Jesus made no further answer, so Pilate marveled.  

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  Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner, whom they asked of him.  

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  There was one called Barabbas, bound with those who had made insurrection, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.  

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  The multitude, crying aloud, began to ask him to do as he always did for them.  

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  Pilate answered them, saying, 'Do you you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?'  

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  For he perceived that for envy the chief priests had delivered him up.  

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  But the chief priests stirred up the multitude, that he should release Barabbas to them instead.  

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  Pilate again asked them, 'What then should I do to him whom you call the King of the Jews?'  

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  They cried out again, 'Crucify him!'  

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  Pilate said to them, 'Why, what evil has he done?' But they cried out exceedingly, 'Crucify him!'  

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  Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.  

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  The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort.  

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  They clothed him with purple, and weaving a crown of thorns, they put it on him.  

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  They began to salute him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!'  

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  They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him, and bowing their knees, did homage to him.  

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  When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.  

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  They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.  

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  They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, 'The place of a skull.'  

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  They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink, but he didn't take it.  

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  Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them, casting lots on them, what each should take.  

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  It was the third hour, and they crucified him.  

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  The superscription of his accusation was written over him, 'THE KING OF THE JEWS.'  

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  With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.  

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  The scripture was fulfilled, which says, 'He was numbered with transgressors.'  

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  Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, 'Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,  

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  save yourself, and come down from the cross!'  

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  Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, 'He saved others. He can't save himself.  

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  Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.' Those who were crucified with him reproached him.  

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  When the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.  

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  At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' which is, being interpreted, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'  

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  Some of those who stood by, when they heard it, said, 'Behold, he calls Elijah.'  

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  One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, 'Let him be. Let's see whether Elijah comes to take him down.'  

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  Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.  

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  The veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom.  

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  When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, 'Truly this man was the Son of God!'  

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  There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;  

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  who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.  

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  When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,  

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  Joseph of Arimathaea, a member of the council of honorable estate, who also himself was looking for the kingdom of God, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus' body.  

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  Pilate marveled if he were already dead: and calling to him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for a while.  

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  When he learned it from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.  

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  He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.  

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  Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.  

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