Knox Bible

1

No sooner had day broken, than the chief priests made their plans, with the elders and scribes and the whole Council; they took Jesus away in bonds and gave him up to Pilate.

2

And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? He answered him, Thy own lips have said it.

3

And now the chief priests brought many accusations against him,

4

and Pilate questioned him again, Dost thou make no answer? See what a weight of accusation they bring against thee.

5

But Jesus still would not answer him, so that Pilate was full of astonishment.

6

At the festival, he used to grant them the liberty of any one prisoner they chose;

7

and the man they called Barabbas was then in custody, with the rebels who had been guilty of murder during the rebellion.

8

So, when the multitude came up towards him, and began to ask for the customary favour,

9

Pilate answered them, Would you have me release the king of the Jews?

10

He knew well that the chief priests had only given him up out of malice.

11

But the chief priests incited the multitude to ask for the release of Barabbas instead.

12

Once more Pilate answered them, What would you have me do, then, with the king of the Jews?

13

And they made a fresh cry of, Crucify him.

14

Why, Pilate said to them, what wrong has he done? But they cried all the more, Crucify him.

15

And so Pilate, determined to humour the multitude, released Barabbas as they asked; Jesus he scourged, and gave him up to be crucified.✻

16

Then the soldiers led him away into the court of the palace, and gathered there the whole of their company.

17

They arrayed him in a scarlet cloak, and put round his head a crown which they had woven out of thorns,

18

and fell to greeting him with, Hail, king of the Jews.

19

And they beat him over the head with a rod, and spat upon him, and bowed their knees in worship of him.

20

At last they had done with mockery; stripping him of the scarlet cloak, they put his own garments on him, and led him away to be crucified.✻

21

As for his cross, they forced a passer-by who was coming in from the country to carry it, one Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.

22

And so they took him to a place called Golgotha, which means, The place of a skull.

23

Here they offered him a draught of wine mixed with myrrh, which he would not take;

24

and then crucified him, dividing his garments among them by casting lots, to decide which should fall to each.

25

It was the third hour when they crucified him.✻

26

A proclamation of his offence was written up over him, The king of the Jews;

27

and with him they crucified two thieves, one on the right and the other on his left,

28

so fulfilling the words of scripture, And he was counted among the wrong-doers.✻

29

The passers-by blasphemed against him, shaking their heads; Come now, they said, thou who wouldst destroy the temple and build it up in three days,

30

come down from that cross, and rescue thyself.

31

In the same way, the chief priests and scribes said mockingly to one another, He saved others, he cannot save himself.

32

Let Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross, here and now, so that we can see it and believe in him. And the men who were crucified with him uttered taunts against him.

33

When the sixth hour came, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour;✻

34

and at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani? which means, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?✻

35

Hearing this, some of those who stood by said, Why, he is calling upon Elias.

36

And thereupon one of them ran off to fill a sponge with vinegar, and fixed it on a rod, and offered to let him drink; Wait, he said, Let us see whether Elias is to come and save him.

37

Then Jesus gave a loud cry, and yielded up his spirit.

38

And the veil of the temple was torn this way and that, from the top to the bottom.

39

The centurion who stood in front of him, perceiving that he so yielded up his spirit with a cry, said, No doubt but this was the Son of God.

40

There were women there, who stood watching from far off; among them were Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome.

41

These used to follow him and minister to him when he was in Galilee, and there were many others who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

42

And now it was already evening; and because it was the day of preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,✻

43

a rich councillor, named Joseph of Arimathea, one of those who waited for God’s kingdom, boldly went to Pilate, and asked to have the body of Jesus.

44

Pilate, astonished that he should have died so soon, called the centurion to him, to ask if he was dead already,

45

and when he heard the centurion’s report, gave Joseph the body.

46

Joseph took him down, and wrapped him in a winding-sheet which he had bought, and laid him in a tomb cut out of the rock, rolling a stone against the door of the tomb.

47

Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of Joseph, saw where he had been laid.✻