Luke 23

The whole assembly rose and brought him before Pilate. They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Christ, a king.” Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for a charge against this man.” But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee and reaching here.” When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. Learning that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem in those days. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long wanted to see him because of what he had heard about him, and hoped to see him perform some sign. He questioned him at length, but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and scribes stood there, vehemently accusing him. Herod, together with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him. He dressed him in a splendid robe and sent him back to Pilate. Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, for previously they had been at enmity with one another. Pilate called together the chief priests, rulers, and people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who misleads the people. Look, I have examined him before you and found no basis for the charges you bring against this man. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death. So I will punish him and release him.” [He was required to release one prisoner to them at the feast.] But they all cried out together, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas for us!” He had been thrown into prison for an uprising in the city and for murder. Pilate addressed them again, wanting to release Jesus. But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” For the third time he said to them, “What evil has this man done? I have found nothing in him deserving death. So I will punish him and release him.” But they pressed him with loud cries, demanding that he be crucified, and their cries prevailed. Pilate decided that their demand should be carried out. He released the man they had asked for, who had been thrown into prison for uprising and murder, but handed Jesus over to their will. As they led him away, they seized a man named Simon of Cyrene, coming from the countryside, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus. A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who were beating their breasts and lamenting him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. For look, days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ For if they do these things to green wood, what will happen to the dry?” Two others, who were criminals, were also being led away to be put to death with him. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” They divided his clothing by casting lots. The people stood watching. The rulers also ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him: “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals hanging there blasphemed him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are sentenced justly, for we are receiving what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” He said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” It was already about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, as the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” After saying this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Truly this man was righteous.” All the crowds who had gathered for this sight, when they saw what had happened, returned beating their breasts. All his acquaintances stood at a distance, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, watching these things. There was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and righteous man. He had not agreed with their decision or action. He was from Arimathea, a town of the Jews, and was waiting for the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid him in a tomb cut in rock, where no one had yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. They returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Rights and attribution