THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN 19

1 Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and then clothed him with a purple garment. 3 They kept [a]saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and striking him in the face. 4 Once again Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Behold, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no fault in him.” 5 Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment, and Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!” 6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify, crucify [b]him!” But Pilate said to them, “You take him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.” 7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to [c]our law he must die, for he made himself out to be the Son of God.”

8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. 9 He went back into his headquarters and said to Jesus, “Where are yoʋ from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “Yoʋ do not speak to me? Do yoʋ not know that I have authority to [d]crucify yoʋ, and authority to release yoʋ?” 11 Jesus [e]answered, “Yoʋ would have no authority over me if it had not been given to yoʋ from above. Therefore he who handed me over to yoʋ has greater sin.” 12 From that point forward Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If yoʋ release this man, yoʋ are not a friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes Caesar.”

13 When Pilate heard [f]this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement (or in Hebrew, Gabbatha). 14 It was about the sixth hour on the day of Preparation for the Passover, and he said to the Jews, “Behold, your king!” 15 But they cried out, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” 16 Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus [g]and led him away. 17 Carrying [h]his own cross, he went out to [i]a location called the Place of the Skull (which in Hebrew is called Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also wrote a notice and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” 20 Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, [j]Greek, and Latin. 21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, “I am the king of the Jews.” ’ ” 22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless. It was woven in one piece from top to bottom, 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it apart, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be.” This happened to fulfill the [k]Scripture that says,

“They divided my garments among themselves,

and for my clothing they cast lots.”

This is what the soldiers did.

25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, yoʋr son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, yoʋr mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.

The Death of Jesus

28 After this, when Jesus [l]saw that everything was now finished, in order to fulfill the Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was there, so they [m]filled a sponge with sour wine, put it around a hyssop branch, and brought it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus' Side Is Pierced

31 Since it was the day of Preparation (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and their bodies taken away, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But when they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. 35 He who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true, and he knows that he speaks what is true, so that [n]you may believe. 36 For these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “No bone of his will be broken.” 37 And, as another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

The Burial of Jesus

38 After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate if he could take away Jesus' body. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and took away the body. 39 With him came Nicodemus (who had previously come to Jesus by night). He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes that weighed about seventy-five pounds. 40 So they took Jesus' body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the custom of the Jews in preparing a body for burial. 41 Near the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42 Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

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