Very early in the morning, the chief priests,
Now it was the custom at the Feast
with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin,
reached a decision.
They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.
"Are you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate.
"Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
The chief priests accused him of many things.
So again Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer?
See how many things they are accusing you of."
But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed.
to release a prisoner whom the people requested.
A man called Barabbas was in prison
with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.
The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
"Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate,
knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead.
"What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them.
"Crucify him!" they shouted.
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them.
He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
NIV Scripture Translation provided in accordance with fair use guidelines of Zondervan. Email questions or comments about this page to Fr. Victor Hoagland, C.P. Copyright 1997, Passionist Publications, Union City, NJ USA. Passionist Publications reserves all rights to text, illustrations, and HTML.