19 Then Pilate ordered that Jesus be taken away and ·whipped [flogged]. ² The soldiers ·made [wove; twisted together] a crown ·from some thorny branches [^Tof thorns] and put it on Jesus’ head and put a purple robe [^Cpurple was the color of royalty] around him. ³ Then they came to him many times and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and ·hit him in the face [slapped/struck him].

⁴ Again Pilate came out and said to them, “Look, I am bringing Jesus out to you. I want you to know that I find ·nothing [no case; no basis for a charge] against him.” ⁵ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “·Here is the man [^TBehold the man]!”

⁶ When the ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the ·guards [officials; temple police] saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

But Pilate answered them, “Crucify him yourselves, because I find ·nothing [no case; no basis for a charge] against him.”

⁷ The ·leaders [Jewish leaders; ^LJews] answered [^Lhim], “We have a law [Lev. 24:16] that says he should die, because he ·said he is [made himself; claimed to be] the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard this [^Lstatement; word], he was even more afraid. ⁹ He went back inside the ·palace [headquarters; ^LPraetorium] and asked Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus did not answer him. ¹⁰ Pilate said [^Lto him], “You refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know I have ·power [authority] to ·set you free [release you] and ·power [authority] to have you crucified?”

¹¹ Jesus answered [him], “The only ·power [authority] you have over me is the ·power [authority] given to you ·by God [^Lfrom above]. The man who ·turned me in to you [betrayed me; ^CCaiaphas or perhaps Judas] is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² ·After this [or For this reason], Pilate tried to let Jesus go. But ·some in the crowd [^Lthe Jews] ·cried out [shouted], “Anyone who makes himself king ·is against [opposes] Caesar [^Cthe Roman emperor]. If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar.”

¹³ When Pilate heard ·what they were saying [^Lthese words], he brought Jesus out and ·sat down [or seated him] on the judge’s seat at the place called The Stone Pavement. (In the ·Hebrew language [^Cmore specifically, Aramaic, the native language of the Jews at the time] the name is Gabbatha.) ¹⁴ It was about ·noon [^Lthe sixth hour; ^Chours were counted from dawn, about 6 AM] on Preparation Day of Passover week. Pilate said to ·the crowd [^Lthe Jews], “·Here is your king! [^LLook, your king! or Look at your king!]”

¹⁵ They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to crucify your king?”

The ·leading [^Tchief] priests answered, “The only king we have is Caesar.”

¹⁶ So Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified^(A)

The soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷ Carrying his own cross, Jesus went out to a place called The Place of the Skull, which in the Hebrew [^CAramaic; see v. 13] language is called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified Jesus. They also crucified two other men, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹ Pilate wrote a ·sign [title; notice; inscription] and ·put [fastened] it on the cross. It read: jesus ·of nazareth [^Lthe Nazarene], the king of the jews. ²⁰ The ·sign [title; notice; inscription] was written in Hebrew [^CAramaic; 19:13], in Latin, and in Greek [^Cthe languages spoken in Jerusalem at the time]. Many of the people read the sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. ²¹ The ·leading [^Tchief] priests [^Lof the Jews] said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews.’ But write, ‘This man ·said [claimed], “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

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