⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace.^(A) “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.^{(B) 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.^(C) Therefore the one who handed me over to you^(D) 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^(E) opposes Caesar.”

¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat^(F) at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic^(G) is Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation^(H) of the Passover; it was about noon.^(I)

“Here is your king,”^(J) 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.^(K)

The Crucifixion of Jesus^(L)

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.