Mark 15:16-32

Living Bible

^16-17 Then the Roman soldiers took him into the barracks of the palace, called out the entire palace guard, dressed him in a purple robe, and made a crown of long, sharp thorns and put it on his head. ¹⁸ Then they saluted, yelling, “Yea! King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ And they beat him on the head with a cane, and spat on him, and went down on their knees to “worship” him.

²⁰ When they finally tired of their sport, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again, and led him away to be crucified.

²¹ Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country just then, was pressed into service to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon is the father of Alexander and Rufus.)

²² And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means skull.) ²³ Wine drugged with bitter herbs was offered to him there, but he refused it. ²⁴ And then they crucified him—and threw dice for his clothes.

²⁵ It was about nine o’clock in the morning when the crucifixion took place.

²⁶ A signboard was fastened to the cross above his head, announcing his crime. It read, “The King of the Jews.”

²⁷ Two robbers were also crucified that morning, their crosses on either side of his. ^28 [a]And so the Scripture was fulfilled that said, “He was counted among evil men.”

^29-30 The people jeered at him as they walked by, and wagged their heads in mockery.

“Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “Sure, you can destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! If you’re so wonderful, save yourself and come down from the cross.”

³¹ The chief priests and religious leaders were also standing around joking about Jesus.

“He’s quite clever at ‘saving’ others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself!”

³² “Hey there, Messiah!” they yelled at him. “You ‘King of Israel’! Come on down from the cross and we’ll believe you!”

And even the two robbers dying with him cursed him.