John 18:28-19:7

Common English Bible

Trial before Pilate

²⁸ The Jewish leaders led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s palace.^[a] It was early in the morning. So that they could eat the Passover, the Jewish leaders wouldn’t enter the palace; entering the palace would have made them ritually impure.

²⁹ So Pilate went out to them and asked, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰ They answered, “If he had done nothing wrong, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate responded, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your Law.”

The Jewish leaders replied, “The Law doesn’t allow us to kill anyone.” (³² This was so that Jesus’ word might be fulfilled when he indicated how he was going to die.)

Pilate questions Jesus

³³ Pilate went back into the palace. He summoned Jesus and asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own or have others spoken to you about me?”

³⁵ Pilate responded, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your nation and its chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶ Jesus replied, “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.”

³⁷ “So you are a king?” Pilate said.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸ “What is truth?” Pilate asked.

Release of Barabbas

After Pilate said this, he returned to the Jewish leaders and said, “I find no grounds for any charge against him. ³⁹ You have a custom that I release one prisoner for you at Passover. Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?”

⁴⁰ They shouted, “Not this man! Give us Barabbas!” (Barabbas was an outlaw.)

Jesus is whipped and mocked as king

19 Then Pilate had Jesus taken and whipped. ² The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple robe. ³ Over and over they went up to him and said, “Greetings, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴ Pilate came out of the palace again and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look! I’m bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no grounds for a charge against him.” ⁵ When Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here’s the man.”

⁶ When the chief priests and their deputies saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify, crucify!”

Pilate told them, “You take him and crucify him. I don’t find any grounds for a charge against him.”

⁷ The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a Law, and according to this Law he ought to die because he made himself out to be God’s Son.”