Luke 23:1-31

Evangelical Heritage Version

Jesus’ Trial in Pilate’s Court

23 The whole group of them got up and brought him before Pilate. ² They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.”

³ Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

“It is as you say,” Jesus replied.

⁴ Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

⁵ But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching all through Judea, beginning from Galilee all the way here.”

Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean. ⁷ When he learned that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

⁸ When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad. For a long time, he had wanted to see him, because he had heard many things about him. He hoped to see some miracle performed by him. ⁹ He questioned him with many words, but Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the experts in the law stood there, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ Herod, along with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and ridiculed him. Dressing him in bright clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. ¹² Herod and Pilate became friends with each other on that day. Before this they had been enemies of each other.

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought this man to me as one who is misleading the people. Look, I have examined him in your presence. I have found in this man no basis for the charges you are bringing against him. ¹⁵ Herod did not either, for he sent him back to us.^[a] See, he has done nothing worthy of death. ¹⁶ So I will have him flogged and release him.”

Barabbas or Jesus?

¹⁷ Pilate needed to release one prisoner to them at the Festival.^{[b] 18} But they all shouted together with one voice: “Take him away! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ Barabbas had been thrown in prison for a rebellion in the city and for murder.

²⁰ Pilate addressed them again, because he wanted to release Jesus. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

²² He said to them the third time, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found no grounds for sentencing him to death. So I will whip him and release him.” ²³ But they kept pressuring him with loud voices, demanding that he be crucified. And their voices^[c] were overwhelming. ²⁴ So Pilate decided that what they demanded would be done. ²⁵ He released the one they had asked for, who had been thrown in prison for rebellion and murder, but he handed Jesus over to their will.

The Crucifixion

²⁶ As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country. They placed the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. ²⁷ A large crowd of people was following him, including women who were mourning and wailing for him. ²⁸ Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ Be sure of this: The days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never nursed.’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’^{[d] 31} For if they do these things to the green wood, what will happen to the dry?”