The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ According to Luke
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Chapter 23
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Then the whole assembly of them rose up and brought him before Pilate,
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and there fell to accusing him; We have discovered, they said, that this man is subverting the loyalty of our people, forbids the payment of tribute to Caesar, and calls himself Christ the king.
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And Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? He answered him, Thy own lips have said it.
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Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, I cannot discover any fault in this man.
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But they insisted, He rouses sedition among the people; he has gone round the whole of Judaea preaching, beginning in Galilee and ending here.
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Pilate, upon the mention of Galilee, asked whether the man was a Galilean;
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and learning that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, remitted his cause to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at this time.
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Herod was overjoyed at seeing Jesus; for a long time he had been eager to have sight of him, because he had heard so much of him, and now he hoped to witness some miracle of his.
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He asked him many questions, but could get no answer from him,
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although the chief priests and scribes stood there, loudly accusing him.
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So Herod and his attendants made a jest of him, arraying him in festal attire out of mockery, and sent him back to Pilate.
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That day Herod and Pilate, who had hitherto been at enmity with one another, became friends.

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And now Pilate summoned the chief priests, and the rulers, and the people,
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and said to them, You have brought this man before me as one who seduces the people from their allegiance; I examined him in your presence, and could find no substance in any of the charges you bring against him;
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nor could Herod, when I referred you to him. It is plain that he has done nothing which deserves death.
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I will scourge him, and then he shall go free.
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At the festival, he was obliged to grant them the liberty of one prisoner:
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but the whole concourse raised the cry, Away with this man; we must have Barabbas released.
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(Barabbas was a man who had been thrown into prison for raising a revolt in the city, and for murder.)
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Once more Pilate spoke to them, offering to set Jesus at liberty;
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but they continued to answer with shouts of, Crucify him, crucify him.
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Then for the third time he said to them, Why, what wrong has he done? I can find no fault in him that deserves death; I will scourge him, and then he shall go free.
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But they, with loud cries, insisted on their demand that he should be crucified; and their voices carried the day;
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Pilate gave his assent that their request should be granted,
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releasing the man of their choice who had been imprisoned for revolt and murder, while he handed Jesus over to their will.

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As they led him off, they caught hold of a man called Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and loaded him with the cross, so that he should carry it after Jesus.
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Jesus was followed by a great multitude of the people, and also of women, who beat their breasts and mourned over him;
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but he turned to them, and said, It is not for me that you should weep, daughters of Jerusalem; you should weep for yourselves and your children.
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Behold, a time is coming when men will say, It is well for the barren, for the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never suckled them.
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It is then that they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us.
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If it goes so hard with the tree that is still green, what will become of the tree that is already dried up?
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Two others, who were criminals, were led off with him to be put to death.
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And when they reached the place which is named after a skull, they crucified him there; and also the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.
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Jesus meanwhile was saying, Father, forgive them; they do not know what it is they are doing. And they divided his garments among themselves by lot.

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The people stood by, watching; and the rulers joined them in pouring scorn on him; He saved others, they said; if he is the Christ, God’s chosen, let him save himself.
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The soldiers, too, mocked him, when they came and offered him vinegar,
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by saying, If thou art the king of the Jews, save thyself.
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(A proclamation had been written up over him in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, This is the king of the Jews.)
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And one of the two thieves who hung there fell to blaspheming against him; Save thyself, he said, and us too, if thou art the Christ.
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But the other rebuked him; What, he said, hast thou no fear of God, when thou art undergoing the same sentence?
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And we justly enough; we receive no more than the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing amiss.
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Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
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And Jesus said to him, I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.

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It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
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The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in the midst:
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and Jesus said, crying with a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and yielded up his spirit as he said it.
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And the centurion, when he saw what befell, gave glory to God; This, he said, was indeed a just man.
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And the whole multitude of those who stood there watching it, when they saw the issue, went home beating their breasts.

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All his acquaintances, with the women who had followed him from Galilee, watched while this happened, standing at a distance.
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And now a man called Joseph came forward, one of the councillors, a good and upright man,
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who had not taken part with the council and its doings; he was from Arimathea, a Jewish city, and was one of those who waited for the kingdom of God.
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He it was who approached Pilate, and asked to have the body of Jesus.
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This he took, and wrapped it in a winding-sheet, and laid it in a tomb fashioned out of the rock, in which no man had ever been buried.
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It was the day of preparation; the next day was the sabbath.
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And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how his body was buried;
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so they went back, and prepared spices and ointments, and while it was the sabbath they kept still, as the law commanded.