Luke 23:13-24:53

New American Standard Bible

Pilate Seeks Jesus’ Release

¹³ Now Pilate summoned to himself the chief priests, the ^[a](A)rulers, and the people, ¹⁴ and he said to them, “You brought this man to me on the ground that ^(B)he is inciting the people to revolt; and behold, after examining Him before you, I ^(C)have found no basis at all in the case of this man for the charges which you are bringing against Him. ¹⁵ No, nor has ^(D)Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and behold, nothing deserving death has been done by Him. ¹⁶ Therefore I will ^[b](E)punish Him and release Him.” ¹⁷ [^[c]Now he was obligated to release to them at the feast one prisoner.]

¹⁸ But they cried out all together, saying, “^(F)Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!” ¹⁹ (He was one who had been thrown into prison for a revolt that took place in the city, and for murder.) ²⁰ But Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, ²¹ but they kept on crying out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” ²² And he said to them a third time, “Why, what has this man done wrong? I have found ^[d]in His case no grounds for a sentence of death; therefore I will ^[e](G)punish Him and release Him.” ²³ But they were insistent, with loud voices, demanding that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. ²⁴ And so Pilate decided to have their demand carried out. ²⁵ And he released the man for whom they were asking, who had been thrown into prison for a revolt and murder; but he handed Jesus over to their will.

Simon Carries the Cross

^26 (H)And when they led Him away, they seized a man, Simon of ^(I)Cyrene, as he was coming in from the country, and placed on him the cross to carry behind Jesus.

²⁷ Now following Him was a large crowd of the people, and of women who were ^[f](J)mourning and grieving for Him. ²⁸ But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, days are coming when they will say, ‘^(K)Blessed are those who cannot bear, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not nursed.’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to ^(L)say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ ³¹ For if they do these things ^[g]when the tree is green, what will happen ^[h]when it is dry?”

^32 (M)Now two others, who were criminals, were also being led away to be put to death with Him.

The Crucifixion

^33 (N)And when they came to the place called ^[i]The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. ³⁴ [^[j]But Jesus was saying, “^(O)Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”] ^(P)And they cast lots, dividing His garments among themselves. ³⁵ And the people stood by, watching. And even the ^(Q)rulers were sneering at Him, saying, “He saved others; ^(R)let Him save Himself if this is the ^[k]Christ of God, His Chosen One.” ³⁶ The soldiers also ridiculed Him, coming up to Him, ^(S)offering Him sour wine, ³⁷ and saying, “^(T)If You are the King of the Jews, save Yourself!” ³⁸ Now there was also an inscription above Him, “^(U)THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

^39 (V)One of the criminals who were hanged there was ^[l]hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the ^[m]Christ? ^(W)Save Yourself and us!” ⁴⁰ But the other responded, and rebuking him, said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? ⁴¹ And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving ^[n]what we deserve for our crimes; but this man has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” ⁴³ And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in ^(X)Paradise.”

^44 (Y)It was now about ^[o](Z)the sixth hour, and darkness came over the entire land until ^[p]the ninth hour, ^45 [q]because the sun stopped shining; and ^(AA)the veil of the temple was torn ^[r]in two. ⁴⁶ And Jesus, ^(AB)crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, ^(AC)into Your hands I entrust My spirit.” And having said this, He ^[s]died. ^47 (AD)Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began ^(AE)praising God, saying, “This man was in fact ^[t]innocent.” ⁴⁸ And all the crowds who came together for this spectacle, after watching what had happened, began to return home, ^[u](AF)beating their chests. ^49 (AG)And all His acquaintances and ^(AH)the women who accompanied Him from Galilee were standing at a distance, seeing these things.

Jesus Is Buried

^50 (AI)And a man named Joseph, who was a ^(AJ)member of the Council, a good and righteous man ⁵¹ (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was ^(AK)waiting for the kingdom of God— ⁵² this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³ And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had ever lain. ⁵⁴ It was a ^[v](AL)preparation day, and a Sabbath was about to ^[w]begin. ⁵⁵ Now ^(AM)the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how His body was laid. ⁵⁶ And then they returned and ^(AN)prepared spices and perfumes.

And ^(AO)on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

The Resurrection

24 ^(AP)But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they entered, they did not find the body of ^(AQ)the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, ^(AR)two men suddenly ^(AS)stood near them in gleaming clothing; ⁵ and as ^[x]the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why are you seeking the living One among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but He ^(AT)has ^[y]risen. Remember how He spoke to you ^(AU)while He was still in Galilee, ⁷ saying that ^(AV)the Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise from the dead.” ⁸ And ^(AW)they remembered His words, ⁹ and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now these women were ^(AX)Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to ^(AY)the apostles. ¹¹ But these words appeared ^[z]to them as nonsense, and they ^(AZ)would not believe ^[aa]the women. ¹² Nevertheless, Peter got up and ^(BA)ran to the tomb; and when he stooped and looked in, he *saw the linen wrappings ^[ab]only; and he went away ^(BB)to his ^[ac]home, marveling at what had happened.

The Road to Emmaus

¹³ And behold, on that very day ^(BC)two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, which was ^[ad]sixty stadia from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. ¹⁶ But ^(BD)their eyes were kept from recognizing Him. ¹⁷ And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” And they came to a stop, looking sad. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, “Are You possibly the only one living near Jerusalem ^[ae]who does not know about the things that happened here in these days?” ¹⁹ And He said to them, “What sort of things?” And they said to Him, “Those about ^(BE)Jesus the Nazarene, who proved to be a ^(BF)prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, ²⁰ and how the chief priests and our ^(BG)rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him. ²¹ But we ^[af]were hoping that it was He who was going to ^(BH)redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²² But also some women among us left us bewildered. ^(BI)When they were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive. ²⁴ And so some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.” ²⁵ And then He said to them, “^[ag]You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that ^(BJ)the prophets have spoken! ^26 (BK)Was it not necessary for the ^[ah]Christ to suffer these things and to come into His glory?” ²⁷ Then beginning ^[ai]with ^(BL)Moses and ^[aj]with all the ^(BM)Prophets, He explained to them the things written about Himself in all the Scriptures.

²⁸ And they approached the village where they were going, and ^(BN)He gave the impression that He was going farther. ²⁹ And so they strongly urged Him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day ^[ak]is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. ³⁰ And it came about, when He had reclined at the table with them, that He took the bread and ^(BO)blessed it, and He broke it and began giving it to them. ³¹ And then their ^(BP)eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from ^[al]their sight. ³² They said to one another, “^[am]Were our hearts not burning within us when He was speaking to us on the road, while He ^(BQ)was ^[an]explaining the Scriptures to us?” ³³ And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and ^(BR)found the eleven gathered together and ^(BS)those who were with them, ³⁴ saying, “^(BT)The Lord has really risen and ^(BU)has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ They began to relate ^[ao]their experiences on the road, and how ^(BV)He was recognized by them at the breaking of the bread.

Other Appearances

³⁶ Now while they were telling these things, ^(BW)Jesus Himself suddenly stood in their midst and *said to them, “Peace be to you.” ³⁷ But they were startled and frightened, and thought that they were looking at ^(BX)a spirit. ³⁸ And He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why are doubts arising in your ^[ap]hearts? ^39 (BY)See My hands and My feet, that ^[aq]it is I Myself; ^(BZ)touch Me and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you plainly see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. ⁴¹ While they still ^[ar](CA)could not believe it because of their joy and astonishment, He said to them, “^(CB)Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They served Him a piece of broiled fish; ⁴³ and He took it and ^(CC)ate it in front of them.

⁴⁴ Now He said to them, “^(CD)These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all the things that are written about Me in the ^(CE)Law of Moses and the Prophets and ^(CF)the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then He ^(CG)opened their ^[as]minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and He said to them, “^(CH)So it is written, that the ^[at]Christ would suffer and ^(CI)rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and that ^(CJ)repentance ^[au]for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed ^[av]in His name to ^(CK)all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are ^(CL)witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, ^(CM)I am sending the promise of My Father upon you; but ^(CN)you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

The Ascension

⁵⁰ And He led them out as far as ^(CO)Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. ⁵¹ While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, ⁵³ and were continually in the temple ^[aw]praising God.