John 18:33-19:22

English Standard Version

My Kingdom Is Not of This World

^33 (A)So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, ^(B)“Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, ^(C)“My kingdom ^(D)is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, ^(E)my servants would have been fighting, that ^(F)I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” ³⁷ Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, ^(G)“You say that I am a king. ^(H)For this purpose I was born and for this purpose ^(I)I have come into the world—^(J)to bear witness to the truth. ^(K)Everyone who is ^(L)of the truth ^(M)listens to my voice.” ³⁸ Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

After he had said this, ^(N)he went back outside to the Jews and told them, ^(O)“I find no guilt in him. ^39 (P)But you have a custom that I should release one man for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” ⁴⁰ They cried out again, ^(Q)“Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.^[a]

Jesus Delivered to Be Crucified

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and ^(R)flogged him. ^2 (S)And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. ³ They came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands. ⁴ Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that ^(T)I find no guilt in him.” ⁵ So Jesus came out, wearing ^(U)the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ^(V)“Behold the man!” ⁶ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, ^(W)“Take him yourselves and crucify him, for ^(X)I find no guilt in him.” ⁷ The Jews^[b] answered him, “We have a law, and ^(Y)according to that law he ought to die because ^(Z)he has made himself the Son of God.” ⁸ When Pilate heard this statement, ^(AA)he was even more afraid. ^9 (AB)He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ^(AC)“Where are you from?” But ^(AD)Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered him, ^(AE)“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore ^(AF)he who delivered me over to you ^(AG)has the greater sin.”

¹² From then on ^(AH)Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. ^(AI)Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on ^(AJ)the judgment seat at a place called The Stone Pavement, and in Aramaic^[c] Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was ^(AK)the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.^[d] He said to the Jews, ^(AL)“Behold your King!” ¹⁵ They cried out, ^(AM)“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 (AN)So he ^(AO)delivered him over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus, ¹⁷ and ^(AP)he went out, ^(AQ)bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ^18 (AR)There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. ¹⁹ Pilate ^(AS)also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many of the Jews read this inscription, for ^(AT)the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” ²² Pilate answered, ^(AU)“What I have written I have written.”