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 ¹ Now when the morning had come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.

 ² And when they had bound him, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

 ³ Then Judas, who had betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus had been condemned, regretted his actions and sought to return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,

 ⁴ Saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself."

 ⁵ And he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hung himself.

 ⁶ And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, "It is not lawful for us to put the money into the treasury, because it is the price of blood."

 ⁷ So they took counsel, and bought the potter's field to bury strangers in with the silver.

 ⁸ Therefore that field has been called, the Field of Blood to this day.

 ⁹ Then it was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a value had been set by the children of Israel;

 ¹⁰ And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me." [Zech 11:12-13]

 ¹¹ Now Jesus stood before the governor; and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And Jesus said to him, "It is as you say."

 ¹² And when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.

 ¹³ Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they witness against you?"

 ¹⁴ But he never answered a word to him, so that the governor marveled greatly.

 ¹⁵ Now at that feast the governor, by custom, released a prisoner to the people, whomever they wished.

 ¹⁶ And they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas, at that time.

 ¹⁷ Therefore when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you wish me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"

 ¹⁸ For he knew that they had delivered him because of envy.

 ¹⁹ Also, while he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent [a message] to him, saying, "Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."

 ²⁰ But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.

 ²¹ And again the governor said to them, "Which of the two do you wish that I release to you?" And they said, "Barabbas."

 ²² Then Pilate said to them, "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" And they all said to him, "Let him be crucified."

 ²³ And the governor said, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they cried out all the more, saying, "Let him be crucified."

 ²⁴ When Pilate saw that he could prevail with nothing, but that he was only creating violent agitation [in the crowd of people], he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person; therefore you suffer the consequence of the injustice."

 ²⁵ Then all the people answered, and said, "Let his blood be on us, and on our children."¹

 ²⁶ Then Pilate released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

 ²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered around him the entire cohort of [Roman] soldiers. [A Roman army cohort was 500-600 men.]

 ²⁸ And they stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him.

 ²⁹ And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a staff in his right hand. And they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

 ³⁰ Then they spit on him, and took the staff and hit him repeatedly on the head. [The entire garrison of Roman soldiers beat Jesus so much that He was so disfigured that He no longer looked like a man, Isa 52:14. The New International reads: "his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being — and his form marred beyond human likeness." From the Word of the Lord within: "It would have helped if one soldier was kind to me."]

 ³¹ And after they had mocked him, they took the robe off him and put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.

 ³² And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name and compelled him to bear his cross.

 ³³ Now when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, The Place of a Skull,

 ³⁴ They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall, but when he had tasted it, he would not drink it.

 ³⁵ And they crucified him, and parted his garments by casting lots so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, 'They parted my garments among them, and cast lots for my clothing.'

 ³⁶ And sitting down they kept watch over him there;

 ³⁷ And set up over his head the accusation written against him, THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

 ³⁸ There were two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.

 ³⁹ And those who passed by reviled him, wagging [shaking] their heads,

 ⁴⁰ And saying, "You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." [When Jesus made that statement, the "temple" was referring to His body.]

 ⁴¹ Likewise also the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked him, saying,

 ⁴² "He saved others, but he cannot save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.

 ⁴³ He trusted in God, let him deliver him now if he will have him; for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

 ⁴⁴ And the thieves who were crucified with him, derided Jesus the same way.

 ⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour to the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.

 ⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is to say, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? [Notice, Jesus, the Son of God, calls out to His God, the Father, the one God. Jesus said he was the Son of God; he never claimed to be God.]

 ⁴⁷ Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This man calls for Elijah."

 ⁴⁸ And immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed, and offered it to him to drink.

 ⁴⁹ But the rest said, "Leave him alone, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him."

 ⁵⁰ Then, Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up his spirit. [From the Word of the Lord within: "Jesus did not die so you can continue to sin. I would just as soon have avoided that horrible death. I did it to show you the extent of obedience required for your own salvation. You must have a devotion to the law that is on every man's heart; you must listen; and you must obey."]

 ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks split;

 ⁵² And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who slept arose,

 ⁵³ And coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

 ⁵⁴ Now when the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."

 ⁵⁵ And many women were there watching from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him;

 ⁵⁶ Among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's children.

 ⁵⁷ Now when the evening came, a rich man of Arimathea² came there, named Joseph, who also had been one of Jesus' disciples.

 ⁵⁸ And he went to Pilate, and pleaded for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered to Joseph.

 ⁵⁹ And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

 ⁶⁰ And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and departed.

 ⁶¹ And Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting over against the tomb.

 ⁶² Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation [for the Sabbath], the chief priests and Pharisees met together with Pilate,

 ⁶³ Saying, "Sir, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.'

 ⁶⁴ Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, in case his disciples come at night and steal him away and then say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' so the last error shall be worse than the first."

 ⁶⁵ And Pilate said to them, "Take a guard with you to make the tomb as secure as you can."

 ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone, and placing a guard of soldiers there to watch.