1As soon as it was morning, the high priests convened a meeting with the elders and scribes and the whole Council. They bound Jesus with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”Jesus answered him,“You say so.” 3The high priests kept accusing him of many things. 4So Pilate asked him again, “Don't you have any answer? Look how many accusations they're bringing against you!” 5But Jesus no longer answered anything, so that Pilate was astonished. 6At every festival Pilate would release any one prisoner whom the people requested. 7Now there was a man in prison named Barabbas. He was with the insurgents who had committed murder during the rebellion. 8So the crowd came and began to request that he do for them what he always did. 9Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” 10For he knew that the high priests had handed him over because of jealousy. 11But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead. 12So Pilate said to them again, “Then what should I do with the man you call the king of the Jews?” 13They shouted back, “Crucify him!” 14Pilate asked them, “Why? What has he done wrong?”But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!” 15So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified. 16The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters) and called out the whole guard. 17They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted some thorns into a victor's crown, and placed it on his head. 18They began to greet him, “Long live the king of the Jews!” 19They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, kneeling in front of him, and worshiping him. 20When they had finished making fun of him, they stripped him of the purple robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him. 21They forced a certain passer-by who was coming in from the country to carry Jesus’ cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. 22They took Jesus to a place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place. 23They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he wouldn't take it. 24Then they crucified him. They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice to see what each one would get. 25It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26The written notice of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” 27They crucified two bandits with him, one on his right and the other on his left. 28Those who passed by kept insulting him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who were going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days— 29save yourself and come down from the cross!” 30In the same way the high priests, along with the scribes, were also making fun of him among themselves. They kept saying, “He saved others but can't save himself! 31Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now so that we may see it and believe.” Even the men who were crucified with him kept insulting him. 32At twelve noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. 33At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice,“Eloi, eloi, lema sabachthani?”, which means,“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 34When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “Listen! He's calling for Elijah!” 35So someone ran and soaked a sponge in some sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus a drink, saying, “Wait! Let's see if Elijah comes to take him down!” 36Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. 37The curtain in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 38When the centurion who stood facing Jesus saw how he had cried out and breathed his last, he said, “This man certainly was the Son of God!” 39Now there were women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of young James and Joseph, and Salome. 40They used to accompany him and care for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there, too. 41It was the Day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath. Since it was already evening, 42Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Council, who was waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 43Pilate wondered if Jesus had already died, so he summoned the centurion to ask him if he was in fact dead. 44When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he let Joseph have the corpse. 45Joseph bought some linen cloth, took the body down, and wrapped it in the cloth. Then he laid it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. 46Now Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where he was laid.