Jesus Scourged and Sentenced
Study note
Pilate has Jesus flogged, and the soldiers mock him with a crown of thorns and purple robe, striking him repeatedly. Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd saying 'Look at the man!' hoping to satisfy their bloodlust, but the chief priests demand crucifixion. When they invoke the law that Jesus must die for claiming to be the Son of God, Pilate grows more afraid and tries again to release him. Jesus tells Pilate he would have no authority unless it came from above. Ultimately, the crowd's threat that releasing Jesus makes Pilate no friend of Caesar forces the governor's hand, and he delivers Jesus to be crucified.
1 Pilate then ordered his soldiers to take Jesus and whip him. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
2 The soldiers twisted thorny branches into a crown and jammed it onto his head. They wrapped a purple robe around his shoulders. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
3 They kept walking up to him and sneering, "Hail, King of the Jews!" Then they hit him in the face. And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
4 Pilate went back out to the crowd. He said, "Look, I am bringing him out so you can see for yourselves. I find nothing to charge him with." Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
5 Jesus stepped outside wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, "Take a good look at this man!" Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
6 The moment the chief priests and their officers saw him, they started shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said, "Do it yourselves! As far as I can tell, he has done nothing wrong." When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
7 The Jewish leaders insisted, "Our law says he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God." The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
8 When Pilate heard that, he became even more frightened. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
9 He went back inside and asked Jesus, "Where do you truly come from?" Jesus remained silent. And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 Pilate said, "You are not going to talk to me? Do you not realize I have the power to either set you free or nail you to a cross?" Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
11 Jesus finally spoke: "You would not have any power over me at all if it had not been given to you from above. Therefore the person who handed me over to you carries an even bigger load of guilt." Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
12 After that, Pilate tried hard to find a way to let Jesus go. But the Jewish leaders shouted, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is going against Caesar!" And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Cæsar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar.
13 When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down at the judge's seat in the place called the Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
14 It was the day everyone was getting ready for Passover, and it was about noon. Pilate turned to the Jewish people and said, "Here is your King!" And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
15 "Get rid of him! Get rid of him! Crucify him!" they screamed. Pilate asked, "You want me to crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "Caesar is the only king we have!" But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Cæsar.
16 So Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified. The soldiers took charge of him and led him away. Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
The Crucifixion
Study note
Jesus carries his cross to Golgotha where he is crucified between two others. Pilate's inscription -- 'Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews' -- is posted in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin despite the chief priests' objections. The soldiers divide his clothing and cast lots for his seamless tunic. From the cross, Jesus entrusts his mother to the beloved disciple's care. Knowing that all things are now accomplished, Jesus says 'I thirst' to fulfill Scripture, receives sour wine, and declares 'It is finished' before yielding up his spirit.
17 Jesus carried his own cross out of the city to a place called the Place of a Skull (the Hebrew name for it is Golgotha). And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
18 There they nailed him to the cross. Two other men were crucified at the same time, one on his left and one on his right, with Jesus in the center. Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
19 Pilate had a sign made and attached to the cross. It said: JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
20 Many Jewish people read this sign because the spot where Jesus was crucified was close to the city. The sign was written in three languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
21 The chief priests complained to Pilate, "Do not write 'The King of the Jews'! Write instead, 'This man claimed to be the King of the Jews.'" Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
22 Pilate answered, "What I have written stays exactly as it is." Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
23 After the soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross, they divided his clothes into four shares, one for each soldier. That left his inner garment, which was a single piece of cloth woven from top to bottom without any seams. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
24 They said to each other, "Let us not rip it apart. Let us roll dice and see who wins it." This fulfilled the scripture that says, "They split up my clothing among themselves, and they gambled for what I wore." And that is exactly what the soldiers did. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
25 Some women stood near the cross. They were Jesus's mother and her sister. Mary the wife of Cleophas was there too. So was Mary Magdalene. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 Jesus looked down and saw his mother standing there next to the follower he loved most. He said to his mother, "Dear woman, from now on he will be your son." When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
27 Then he said to that follower, "From now on she will be your mother." And from that moment on, the follower took her into his home and cared for her. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
28 After this, knowing that everything had been completed, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." He said this to fulfill what the Scripture had predicted. After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
29 A jar of sour wine was sitting nearby. They soaked a sponge in the wine, stuck it on a branch of hyssop, and lifted it to his lips. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
30 After tasting the wine, Jesus said, "It is finished." Then he let his head drop and breathed his last breath. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
The Burial of Jesus
Study note
Because of the approaching Sabbath, the Jews request that the legs of the crucified be broken to hasten death. The soldiers break the legs of the two criminals but find Jesus already dead. Instead, a soldier pierces his side with a spear, and blood and water flow out. John emphasizes his eyewitness testimony. Joseph of Arimathaea, a secret disciple, and Nicodemus, who first came to Jesus at night, take the body and prepare it for burial with myrrh and aloes. They lay Jesus in a new tomb in a nearby garden.
31 The next day was the Sabbath, and a very special one. The Jewish leaders did not want the bodies on crosses during the holy day. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken to speed up death and have the bodies taken down. The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
32 So the soldiers went over and smashed the legs of both men who were hanging on crosses next to Jesus — first one, then the other. Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
33 But when they got to Jesus, they saw he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
34 Instead, one soldier drove his spear into Jesus's side. Blood and water immediately flowed out. But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
35 The person who witnessed this is the one telling you about it, and what he says is true. He knows he is telling the truth, and he is sharing it so that you will believe too. And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
36 These things happened to make the Scripture come true: "Not a single one of his bones will be broken." For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
37 And another scripture says, "They will look at the one they stabbed with a spear." And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
38 After all this, Joseph of Arimathaea asked Pilate for permission to take Jesus's body down. Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but he had kept it a secret because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. Pilate said yes, so Joseph came and took the body. And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
39 Nicodemus also came -- the same man who had first visited Jesus at night. He brought along a great amount of burial spices, a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about a hundred pounds. And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
40 Together they wrapped Jesus's body in strips of linen cloth along with the sweet-smelling spices. This was the Jewish way of getting a body ready for burial. Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
41 Near the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. In that garden was a new tomb that nobody had ever used. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
42 Since it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was close by, they laid Jesus there. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.