Mark 15:6-20

Contemporary English Version

The Death Sentence

(Matthew 27.15-26; Luke 23.13-25; John 18.39—19.16)

⁶ During Passover, Pilate always freed one prisoner chosen by the people. ⁷ And at that time there was a prisoner named Barabbas. He and some others had been arrested for murder during a riot. ⁸ The crowd now came and asked Pilate to set a prisoner free, just as he usually did.

⁹ Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰ Pilate knew that the chief priests had brought Jesus to him because they were jealous.

¹¹ But the chief priests told the crowd to ask Pilate to free Barabbas.

¹² Then Pilate asked the crowd, “What do you want me to do with this man you say is^[a] the king of the Jews?”

¹³ They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”

¹⁴ Pilate asked, “But what crime has he done?”

“Nail him to a cross!” they yelled even louder.

¹⁵ Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.

Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus

(Matthew 27.27-30; John 19.2,3)

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus inside the courtyard of the fortress^[b] and called together the rest of the troops. ¹⁷ They put a purple robe^[c] on him, and on his head they placed a crown they had made out of thorn branches. ¹⁸ They made fun of Jesus and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ Then they beat him on the head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt down and pretended to worship him.

²⁰ When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross.