1    2   Pilate now took Jesus and had him flogged; and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and robed him in a purple cloak. 3   Then time after time they came up to him, crying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’, and struck him on the face.

4   Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, ‘Here he is; I am bringing him out to let you know that I find no case against him’; 5   and Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. 6   ‘Behold the Man!’ said Pilate. The chief priests and their henchmen saw him and shouted, ‘Crucify! crucify!’ ‘Take him and crucify him yourselves,’ said Pilate; ‘for my part I find no case against him.’ 7   The Jews answered, ‘We have a law; and by that law he ought to die, because he has claimed to be Son of God.’

8    9   When Pilate heard that, he was more afraid than ever, and going back into his headquarters he asked Jesus, ‘Where have you come from?’ 10   But Jesus gave him no answer. ‘Do you refuse to speak to me?’ said Pilate. ‘Surely you know that I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify you?’ 11   ‘You would have no authority at all over me’, Jesus replied, ‘if it had not been granted you from above; and therefore the deeper guilt lies with the man who handed me over to you.’

12   From that moment Pilate tried hard to release him; but the Jews kept shouting, ‘If you let this man go, you are no friend to Caesar; any man who claims to be a king is defying Caesar.’ 13   When Pilate heard what they were saying, he brought Jesus out and took his seat on the tribunal at the place known as ‘The Pavement’ (‘Gabbatha’ in the language of the Jews). 14   It was the eve of Passover, ^note about noon. 15   Pilate said to the Jews, ‘Here is your king.’ They shouted, ‘Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!’ ‘Crucify your king?’ said Pilate. ‘We have no king but Caesar’, the Jews replied. 16   Then at last, to satisfy them, he handed Jesus over to be crucified.

17   Jesus was now taken in charge and, carrying his own cross, went out to the Place of the Skull, as it is called (or, in the Jews’

The final conflict language, 18   ‘Golgotha’), where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on the right, one on the left, and Jesus between them.

19   And Pilate wrote an inscription to be fastened to the cross; it read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.’ 20   This inscription was read by many Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city, and the inscription was in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 21   Then the Jewish chief priests said to Pilate, ‘You should not write “King of the Jews”; write, “He claimed to be king of the Jews.”’ 22   Pilate replied, ‘What I have written, I have written.’

23   The soldiers, having crucified Jesus, took possession of his clothes, and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, leaving out the tunic. The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece throughout; so they said to one another, ‘We must not tear this; 24   let us toss for it’; and thus the text of Scripture came true: ‘They shared my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing.’

25   That is what the soldiers did. But meanwhile near the cross where Jesus hung stood his mother, with her sister, Mary wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26   Jesus saw his mother, with the disciple whom he loved standing beside her. He said to her, ‘Mother, there is your son’; 27   and to the disciple, ‘There is your mother’; and from that moment the disciple took her into his home.

28   After that, Jesus, aware that all had now come to its appointed end, said in fulfilment of Scripture, ‘I thirst.’ 29   A jar stood there full of sour wine; so they soaked a sponge with the wine, fixed it on a javelin, ^note and held it up to his lips. 30   Having received the wine, he said, ‘It is accomplished!’ He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. ^note

31   Because it was the eve of Passover, ^note the Jews were anxious that the bodies should not remain on the cross for the coming Sabbath, since that Sabbath was a day of great solemnity; so they requested Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32   The soldiers accordingly came to the first of his fellow-victims and to the second, and broke their legs; 33   but when they came to Jesus, they found that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. 34   But one of the soldiers stabbed his side with a lance, and at once there was a flow of blood and water. 35   This is vouched for by an eyewitness, whose evidence is to be trusted. He knows that he speaks the truth, so that you too may believe; 36   for this happened in fulfilment of the

The final conflict text of Scripture: ‘No bone of his shall be broken.’ 37   And another text says, ‘They shall look on him whom they pierced.’

38   After that, Pilate was approached by Joseph of Arimathaea, a disciple of Jesus, but a secret disciple for fear of the Jews, who ^note asked to be allowed to remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave the permission; so Joseph came and took the body away. 39   He was joined by Nicodemus (the man who had first visited Jesus by night), who brought with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, more than half a hundredweight. 40   They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial-customs. 41   Now at the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, not yet used for burial. 42   There, because the tomb was near at hand and it was the eve of the Jewish Sabbath, they laid Jesus.

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