Luke 23

¹ The whole assembly then rose, and they brought him before Pilate.

² They began their accusation by saying, 'We found this man inciting our people to revolt, opposingpayment of the tribute to Caesar, and claiming to be Christ, a king.'

³ Pilate put to him this question, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' He replied, 'It is you who say it.'

⁴ Pilate then said to the chief priests and the crowd, 'I find no case against this man.'

⁵ But they persisted, 'He is inflaming the people with his teaching all over Judaea and al the way fromGalilee, where he started, down to here.'

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man were a Galilean;

⁷ and finding that he came under Herod's jurisdiction, he passed him over to Herod, who was also inJerusalem at that time.

⁸ Herod was delighted to see Jesus; he had heard about him and had been wanting for a long time toset eyes on him; moreover, he was hoping to see some miracle worked by him.

⁹ So he questioned him at some length, but without getting any reply.

¹⁰ Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes were there, vigorously pressing their accusations.

¹¹ Then Herod, together with his guards, treated him with contempt and made fun of him; he put a richcloak on him and sent him back to Pilate.

¹² And though Herod and Pilate had been enemies before, they were reconciled that same day.

¹³ Pilate then summoned the chief priests and the leading men and the people.

¹⁴ He said to them, 'You brought this man before me as a popular agitator. Now I have gone into thematter myself in your presence and found no grounds in the man for any of the charges you bring against him.

¹⁵ Nor has Herod either, since he has sent him back to us. As you can see, the man has done nothingthat deserves death,

¹⁶ so I shal have him flogged and then let him go.'

¹⁷

¹⁸ But as one man they howled, 'Away with him! Give us Barabbas!'

¹⁹ (This man had been thrown into prison because of a riot in the city and murder.)

²⁰ In his desire to set Jesus free, Pilate addressed them again,

²¹ but they shouted back, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!'

²² And for the third time he spoke to them, 'But what harm has this man done? I have found no caseagainst him that deserves death, so I shal have him flogged and then let him go.'

²³ But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices, demanding that he should be crucified. And theirshouts kept growing louder.

²⁴ Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted.

²⁵ He released the man they asked for, who had been imprisoned because of rioting and murder, andhanded Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.

²⁶ As they were leading him away they seized on a man, Simon from Cyrene, who was coming in fromthe country, and made him shoulder the cross and carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷ Large numbers of people followed him, and women too, who mourned and lamented for him.

²⁸ But Jesus turned to them and said, 'Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep rather foryourselves and for your children.

²⁹ For look, the days are surely coming when people wil say, "Blessed are those who are barren, thewombs that have never borne children, the breasts that have never suckled!"

³⁰ Then they wil begin to say to the mountains, "Fal on us!"; to the hills, "Cover us!"

³¹ For if this is what is done to green wood, what wil be done when the wood is dry?'

³² Now they were also leading out two others, criminals, to be executed with him.

³³ When they reached the place called The Skul , there they crucified him and the two criminals, one onhis right, the other on his left.

³⁴ Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.' Then they cast lots to shareout his clothing.

³⁵ The people stayed there watching. As for the leaders, they jeered at him with the words, 'He savedothers, let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.'

³⁶ The soldiers mocked him too, coming up to him, offering him vinegar,

³⁷ and saying, 'If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.'

³⁸ Above him there was an inscription: 'This is the King of the Jews'.

³⁹ One of the criminals hanging there abused him: 'Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us aswel .'

⁴⁰ But the other spoke up and rebuked him. 'Have you no fear of God at al ?' he said. 'You got the samesentence as he did,

⁴¹ but in our case we deserved it: we are paying for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.'

⁴² Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'

⁴³ He answered him, 'In truth I tel you, today you wil be with me in paradise.'

⁴⁴ It was now about the sixth hour and the sun's light failed, so that darkness came over the whole landuntil the ninth hour.

⁴⁵ The veil of the Sanctuary was torn right down the middle.

⁴⁶ Jesus cried out in a loud voice saying, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' With these wordshe breathed his last.

⁴⁷ When the centurion saw what had taken place, he gave praise to God and said, 'Truly, this was anupright man.'

⁴⁸ And when al the crowds who had gathered for the spectacle saw what had happened, they wenthome beating their breasts.

⁴⁹ All his friends stood at a distance; so also did the women who had accompanied him from Galilee andsaw all this happen.

⁵⁰ And now a member of the Council arrived, a good and upright man named Joseph.

⁵¹ He had not consented to what the others had planned and carried out. He came from Arimathaea, aJewish town, and he lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God.

⁵² This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

⁵³ He then took it down, wrapped it in a shroud and put it in a tomb which was hewn in stone and whichhad never held a body.

⁵⁴ It was Preparation day and the Sabbath was beginning to grow light.

⁵⁵ Meanwhile the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus were following behind. They took noteof the tomb and how the body had been laid.

⁵⁶ Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. And on the Sabbath day they rested, as theLaw required.