John 19

¹Then, therefore, Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²And the soldiers, having woven a crown out of thorn-bushes, placed it on his head, and they threw a purple cloak around him. ³They kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, King of the Judeans!” and they were striking him in the face with their hands.

⁴Pilate went outside again and says to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no legal grounds for a charge against him.” ⁵Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak. And Pilate says to them, “Look! The man!”

⁶Therefore, when the high priests and the temple officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify! Crucify!” Pilate says to them, “You take him and crucify him, for I do not find a legal ground for a charge against him.” ⁷The Judeans answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he is obligated to die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he became even more afraid. ⁹He entered the Praetorium again and says to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰Therefore Pilate says to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to release you and I have the authority to crucify you?” ¹¹Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all if it had not been given to you from above; for this reason, the one who handed me over to you has a greater sin.”

¹²From that point, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Judeans shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘Friend of Caesar’! Anyone who makes himself out to be a king is speaking against Caesar!” ¹³When Pilate heard these words, he led Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called "The Stone Pavement," but in Aramaic, Gabbatha. ¹⁴Now it was the Day of Preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he says to the Judeans, “Look! Your king!” ¹⁵Then they shouted out, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate says to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar!” ¹⁶Then, at that time, he handed him over to them so that he might be crucified. So they took Jesus. ¹⁷And carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called "Place of the Skull," which is called in Aramaic Golgotha, ¹⁸where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹Pilate also wrote a notice and put it on the cross; it was written: "Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Judeans." ²⁰Therefore, many of the Judeans read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. ²¹Then the high priests of the Judeans said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Judeans,’ but that he said, ‘I am King of the Judeans.’” ²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and made four parts, a part for each soldier, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven from the top throughout. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it, but let’s cast lots for it to see whose it will be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says: “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” These are the things the soldiers did.

²⁵Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶Then Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, says to his mother, “Woman, look! Your son!” ²⁷Then he says to the disciple, “Look! Your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸After this, Jesus, knowing that everything was now finished, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, says, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹A jar full of sour wine was sitting there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and brought it to his mouth. ³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

³¹Since it was the Day of Preparation, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high holy day), the Judeans asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and they be taken away. ³²So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who had been crucified with him. ³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear-point, and immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵And the one who has seen it has testified—and his testimony is true, and that man knows that he tells the truth—so that you also may believe. ³⁶For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not a bone of his will be shattered.” ³⁷And again another Scripture says: “They will look upon the one whom they pierced.”

³⁸After these things, Joseph from Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus (but a secret one because of fear of the Judeans), asked Pilate if he could take the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave permission. So he came and took his body. ³⁹Nicodemus, who had first come to him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. ⁴⁰So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the aromatic spices, as is the custom of the Judeans for burial. ⁴¹Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever yet been laid. ⁴²Therefore, because of the Judean Day of Preparation, since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.