Knox Bible

1

Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.

2

And the soldiers put on his head a crown which they had woven out of thorns, and dressed him in a scarlet cloak;

3

they would come up to him and say, Hail, king of the Jews, and then strike him on the face.

4

And now Pilate went out again, and said, See, I am bringing him out to you, to shew that I cannot find any fault in him.

5

Then, as Jesus came out, still wearing the crown of thorns and the scarlet cloak, he said to them, See, here is the man.

6

When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him. Take him yourselves, said Pilate, and crucify him; I cannot find any fault in him.

7

The Jews answered, We have our own law, and by our law he ought to die, for pretending to be the Son of God.

8

When Pilate heard this said, he was more afraid than ever;

9

going back into the palace, he asked Jesus, Whence hast thou come? but Jesus gave him no answer.

10

What, said Pilate, hast thou no word for me? Dost thou not know that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee?

11

Jesus answered, Thou wouldst not have any power over me at all, if it had not been given thee from above. That is why the man who gave me up to thee is more guilty yet.✻

12

After this, Pilate was for releasing him, but the Jews went on crying out, Thou art no friend of Caesar, if thou dost release him; the man who pretends to be a king is Caesar’s rival.

13

When Pilate heard them speak thus, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgement seat, in a place which is called Lithostrotos; its Hebrew name is Gabbatha.✻

14

It was now about the sixth hour, on the eve of the paschal feast. See, he said to the Jews, here is your king.✻

15

But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. What, Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? We have no king, the chief priests answered, except Caesar.

16

Thereupon he gave Jesus up into their hands, to be crucified: and they, once he was in their hands, led him away.

17

So Jesus went out, carrying his own cross, to the place named after a skull; its Hebrew name is Golgotha.

18

There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side with Jesus in the midst.

19

And Pilate wrote out a proclamation, which he put on the cross; it ran, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.

20

This proclamation was read by many of the Jews, since the place where Jesus was crucified was close to the city; it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

21

And the Jewish chief priests said to Pilate, Thou shouldst not write, The king of the Jews; thou shouldst write, This man said, I am the king of the Jews.

22

Pilate’s answer was, What I have written, I have written.

23

The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took up his garments, which they divided into four shares, one share for each soldier. They took up his cloak, too, which was without seam, woven from the top throughout;

24

so they said to one another, Better not to tear it; let us cast lots to decide whose it shall be. This was in fulfilment of the passage in scripture which says, They divide my spoils among them; cast lots for my clothing.✻ So it was, then, that the soldiers occupied themselves;

25

and meanwhile his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen, had taken their stand beside the cross of Jesus.✻

26

And Jesus, seeing his mother there, and the disciple, too, whom he loved, standing by, said to his mother, Woman, this is thy son.

27

Then he said to the disciple, This is thy mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his own keeping.

28

And now Jesus knew well that all was achieved which the scripture demanded for its accomplishment; and he said, I am thirsty.✻

29

There was a jar there full of vinegar; so they filled a sponge with the vinegar and put it on a stick of hyssop, and brought it close to his mouth.

30

Jesus drank the vinegar, and said, It is achieved. Then he bowed his head, and yielded up his spirit.

31

The Jews would not let the bodies remain crucified on the sabbath, because that sabbath day was a solemn one; and since it was now the eve, they asked Pilate that the bodies might have their legs broken, and be taken away.

32

And so the soldiers came and broke the legs both of the one and of the other that were crucified with him;

33

but when they came to Jesus, and found him already dead, they did not break his legs,

34

but one of the soldiers opened his side with a spear; and immediately blood and water flowed out.

35

He who saw it has borne his witness; and his witness is worthy of trust. He tells what he knows to be the truth, that you, like him, may learn to believe.

36

This was so ordained to fulfil what is written, You shall not break a single bone of his.✻

37

And again, another passage in scripture says, They will look upon the man whom they have pierced.✻

38

After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but in secret, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him leave; so he came and took Jesus’ body away;

39

and with him was Nicodemus, the same who made his first visit to Jesus by night; he brought with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, of about a hundred pounds’ weight.

40

They took Jesus’ body, then, and wrapped it in winding-cloths with the spices; that is how the Jews prepare a body for burial.

41

In the same quarter where he was crucified there was a garden, with a new tomb in it, one in which no man had ever yet been buried.

42

Here, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus, because of the Jewish feast on the morrow.✻