Chapter 19

Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him.

And the soldiers, twisting twigs of thorn into a wreath, put it on His head, and threw round Him a crimson cloak.

Then they began to march up to Him, saying in a mocking voice, 'Hail King of the Jews!' And they struck Him with the palms of their hands.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, 'See, I am bringing him out to you to let you clearly understand that I find no crime in him.'

So Jesus came out, wearing the wreath of thorns and the crimson cloak. And Pilate said to them, 'See, there is the man.'

As soon then as the High Priests and the officers saw Him, they shouted 'To the cross! To the cross!' 'Take him yourselves and crucify him,' said Pilate; 'for I, at any rate, find no crime in him.'

'We,' replied the Jews, 'have a Law, and in accordance with that Law he ought to die, for having claimed to be the Son of God.'

More alarmed than ever, Pilate no sooner heard these words than he re-entered the Praetorium and began to question Jesus.

'What is your origin?' he asked. But Jesus gave him no answer.

'Do you refuse to speak even to me?' asked Pilate; 'do you not know that I have it in my power either to release you or to crucify you?'

'You would have had no power whatever over me,' replied Jesus, 'had it not been granted you from above. On that account he who has delivered me up to you is more guilty than you are.'

Upon receiving this answer, Pilate was for releasing Him. But the Jews kept shouting, 'If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar's. Every one who sets himself up as king declares himself a rebel against Caesar.'

On hearing this, Pilate brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judge's seat in a place called the Pavement--or in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about six o'clock in the morning. Then he said to the Jews, 'There is your king!'

This caused a storm of outcries, 'Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!' 'Am I to crucify your king?' Pilate asked. 'We have no king, except Caesar,' answered the High Priests.

Then Pilate gave Him up to them to be crucified. Accordingly they took Jesus;

and He went out carrying His own cross, to the place called Skull-place--or, in Hebrew, Golgotha--

where they nailed Him to a cross, and two others at the same time, one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

And Pilate wrote a notice and had it fastened to the top of the cross. It ran thus: JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Many of the Jews read this notice, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was in three languages--Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

This led the Jewish High Priests to remonstrate with Pilate. 'You should not write 'The King of the Jews,'' they said, 'but that he claimed to be King of the Jews.'

'What I have written I have written,' was Pilate's answer.

So the soldiers, as soon as they had crucified Jesus, took His garments, including His tunic, and divided them into four parts--one part for each soldier. The tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.

So they said to one another, 'Do not let us tear it. Let us draw lots for it.' This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, 'They shared my garments among them, and drew lots for my clothing.' That was just what the soldiers did.

Now standing close to the cross of Jesus were His mother and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.

So Jesus, seeing His mother, and seeing the disciple whom He loved standing near, said to His mother, 'Behold, your son!'

Then He said to the disciple, 'Behold, your mother!' And from that time the disciple received her into his own home.

After this, Jesus, knowing that everything was now brought to an end, said--that the Scripture might be fulfilled, 'I am thirsty.'

There was a jar of wine standing there. With this wine they filled a sponge, put it on the end of a stalk of hyssop, and lifted it to His mouth.

As soon as Jesus had taken the wine, He said, 'It is finished.' And then, bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.

Meanwhile the Jews, because it was the day of Preparation for the Passover, and in order that the bodies might not remain on the crosses during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was one of special solemnity), requested Pilate to have the legs of the dying men broken, and the bodies removed.

Accordingly the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and also of the other who had been crucified with Jesus.

Then they came to Jesus Himself: but when they saw that He was already dead, they refrained from breaking His legs.

One of the soldiers, however, made a thrust at His side with a lance, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

This statement is the testimony of an eye-witness, and it is true. He knows that he is telling the truth--in order that you also may believe.

For all this took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled which declares, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.'

And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.'

After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but for fear of the Jews a secret disciple, asked Pilate's permission to carry away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him leave. So he came and removed the body.

Nicodemus too--he who at first had visited Jesus by night--came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, in weight about seventy or eighty pounds.

Taking down the body they wrapped it in linen cloths along with the spices, in accordance with the Jewish mode of preparing for burial.

There was a garden at the place where Jesus had been crucified, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.

Therefore, because it was the day of Preparation for the Jewish Passover, and the tomb was close at hand, they put Jesus there.