19 This is what the Lord says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter.^(A) Take along some of the elders^(B) of the people and of the priests ² and go out to the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(C) near the entrance of the Potsherd Gate. There proclaim the words I tell you, ³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings^(D) of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster^(E) on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.^{(F) 4} For they have forsaken^(G) me and made this a place of foreign gods^(H); they have burned incense^(I) in it to gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.^{(J) 5} They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children^(K) in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind.^{(L) 6} So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when people will no longer call this place Topheth^(M) or the Valley of Ben Hinnom,^(N) but the Valley of Slaughter.^(O)

⁷ “‘In this place I will ruin^[a] the plans^(P) of Judah and Jerusalem. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies,^(Q) at the hands of those who want to kill them, and I will give their carcasses^(R) as food^(S) to the birds and the wild animals. ⁸ I will devastate this city and make it an object of horror and scorn;^(T) all who pass by will be appalled^(U) and will scoff because of all its wounds.^{(V) 9} I will make them eat^(W) the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies^(X) will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them.’

¹⁰ “Then break the jar^(Y) while those who go with you are watching, ¹¹ and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I will smash^(Z) this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury^(AA) the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. ¹² This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I will make this city like Topheth. ¹³ The houses^(AB) in Jerusalem and those of the kings of Judah will be defiled^(AC) like this place, Topheth—all the houses where they burned incense on the roofs^(AD) to all the starry hosts^(AE) and poured out drink offerings^(AF) to other gods.’”

¹⁴ Jeremiah then returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and stood in the court^(AG) of the Lord’s temple and said to all the people, ¹⁵ “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on this city and all the villages around it every disaster^(AH) I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked^(AI) and would not listen^(AJ) to my words.’”

Psalm 96^(A)

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified^(A)

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.^{(B) 2} The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³ and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!”^(C) And they slapped him in the face.^(D)

⁴ Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out^(E) to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”^{(F) 5} When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,^(G) Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him.^(H) As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”^(I)

⁷ The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die,^(J) because he claimed to be the Son of God.”^(K)

⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace.^(L) “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.^{(M) 10} “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.^(N) Therefore the one who handed me over to you^(O) is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king^(P) opposes Caesar.”

¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat^(Q) at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic^(R) is Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation^(S) of the Passover; it was about noon.^(T)

“Here is your king,”^(U) Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶ Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.^(V)

The Crucifixion of Jesus^(W)

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷ Carrying his own cross,^(X) he went out to the place of the Skull^(Y) (which in Aramaic^(Z) is called Golgotha). ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others^(AA)—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth,^(AB) the king of the jews.^{(AC) 20} Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,^(AD) and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. ²¹ The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”^(AE)

²² Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled^(AF) that said,

So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵ Near the cross^(AH) of Jesus stood his mother,^(AI) his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.^{(AJ) 26} When Jesus saw his mother^(AK) there, and the disciple whom he loved^(AL) standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,^[b] here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus^(AM)

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished,^(AN) and so that Scripture would be fulfilled,^(AO) Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar^(AP) was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”^(AQ) With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹ Now it was the day of Preparation,^(AR) and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses^(AS) during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.^{(AT) 33} But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced^(AU) Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.^{(AV) 35} The man who saw it^(AW) has given testimony, and his testimony is true.^(AX) He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled:^(AY) “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{[c](AZ) 37} and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^[d](BA)

The Burial of Jesus^(BB)

³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.^(BC) With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus,^(BD) the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^{[e] 40} Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.^(BE) This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.^{(BF) 41} At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation^(BG) and since the tomb was nearby,^(BH) they laid Jesus there.