John 19:1-22

Common English Bible

Jesus is whipped and mocked as king

19 Then Pilate had Jesus taken and whipped. ² The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple robe. ³ Over and over they went up to him and said, “Greetings, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴ Pilate came out of the palace again and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look! I’m bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no grounds for a charge against him.” ⁵ When Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here’s the man.”

⁶ When the chief priests and their deputies saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify, crucify!”

Pilate told them, “You take him and crucify him. I don’t find any grounds for a charge against him.”

⁷ The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a Law, and according to this Law he ought to die because he made himself out to be God’s Son.”

Pilate questions Jesus again

⁸ When Pilate heard this word, he was even more afraid. ⁹ He went back into the residence and spoke to Jesus, “Where are you from?” Jesus didn’t answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said, “You won’t speak to me? Don’t you know that I have authority to release you and also to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus replied, “You would have no authority over me if it had not been given to you from above. That’s why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” ¹² From that moment on, Pilate wanted to release Jesus.

However, the Jewish leaders cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t a friend of the emperor! Anyone who makes himself out to be a king opposes the emperor!”

¹³ When Pilate heard these words, he led Jesus out and seated him on the judge’s bench at the place called Stone Pavement (in Aramaic, Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was about noon on the Preparation Day for the Passover. Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Here’s your king.”

¹⁵ The Jewish leaders cried out, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate responded, “What? Do you want me to crucify your king?”

“We have no king except the emperor,” the chief priests answered. ¹⁶ Then Pilate handed Jesus over to be crucified.

Crucifixion

The soldiers took Jesus prisoner. ¹⁷ Carrying his cross by himself, he went out to a place called Skull Place (in Aramaic, Golgotha). ¹⁸ That’s where they crucified him—and two others with him, one on each side and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹ Pilate had a public notice written and posted on the cross. It read “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. ²¹ Therefore, the Jewish chief priests complained to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews’ but ‘This man said, “I am the king of the Jews.”’”

²² Pilate answered, “What I’ve written, I’ve written.”