Luke 23
Revised Geneva Translation
23 Then the whole multitude of them arose and led Him to Pilate.
2 And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We have found this Man perverting the nation and forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar, saying that He is Christ, a King!”
3 And Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He answered him, and said, “You say it.”
4 Then Pilate said to the chief priests, and to the people, “I find no fault in this Man.”
5 But they were all the more insistent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning at Galilee, and as far as this place!”
6 Now, when Pilate heard ‘Galilee’, he asked whether the Man was a Galilean.
7 And when he knew that he was from Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod (who was also in Jerusalem in those days).
8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was extremely glad. For he had desired to see Him for a long time (because he had heard many things about him and had hoped to have seen some sign done by Him).
9 Then he questioned Him about many things. But He answered him nothing.
10 Also, the chief priests and scribes stood forth and accused Him vehemently.
11 And Herod, with his men of war, despised Him and mocked Him, and clothed Him in bright apparel, and again sent Him to Pilate.
12 And the same day, Pilate and Herod became friends (for before they were enemies of one another).
13 Then Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,
14 and said to them, “You have brought this Man to me as one Who perverted the people! And behold, I have examined Him before you and have found no fault in this Man concerning those things whereof you accuse Him!
15 “No, nor Herod either! For I sent you to him. And lo, nothing worthy of death was done by Him!
16 “Therefore, I will discipline Him and let Him loose.”
17 (For it was necessary that he release one to them at the Feast.)
18 Then all the multitude cried at once, saying, “Away with Him! And deliver Barabbas to us!”
19 (who had been put in prison for a certain insurrection made in the city, and for murder).
20 Then Pilate spoke to them again, willing to release Jesus.
21 But they cried, saying, “Crucify! Crucify Him!”
22 And he said to them a third time, “But, what evil has He done? I find no cause for death in Him! I will therefore discipline Him and let Him loose!”
23 But they were insistent with loud voices and required that He be crucified. And their voices, and those of the chief priests, prevailed.
24 So Pilate gave sentence, that it should be as they required.
25 And he released to them the one whom they desired (who had been cast into prison for insurrection and murder) and delivered Jesus to their will.
26 And as they led Him away, they caught one Simon of Cyrene, coming out of the field. And they laid the cross on him, to bear it after Jesus.
27 And a great multitude of the people followed Him; and also women, who mourned and lamented Him.
28 But Jesus turned back to them, and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me. But weep for yourselves, and for your children.
29 “For behold, the days will come when it shall be said, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts which never nursed.’
30 “Then they shall begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
31 “For if they do these things to a green tree, what shall be done to the dry?”
32 And there were two others who were criminals, being led with Him to be slain.
33 And when they had come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified Him and the criminals there - one on the right hand and the other on the left.
34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them! For they do not know what they do!” And they divided His clothing and cast lots.
35 And the people stood and looked on. And the rulers mocked Him with them, saying, “He saved others! Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ! The Chosen of God!”
36 The soldiers also mocked Him, and came and offered Him vinegar,
37 and said, “If You are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
38 And an inscription was also written over Him, in Greek letters, and in Latin, and in Hebrew, “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
39 And one of the criminals who were hanged, railed at Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us!”
40 But the other answered, and rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation?
41 “We are indeed here righteously! For we receive things worthy of what we have done. But this Man has done nothing wrong!”
42 And he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your Kingdom.”
43 Then Jesus said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
44 And it was about the sixth hour. And there was a darkness over all the land, until the ninth hour.
45 And the Sun was darkened. And the veil of the Temple was torn in the middle.
46 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and said, “Father! Into Your hands I commend My spirit. And when He had said this, He gave up the ghost.
47 Now when the centurion saw what had been done, he glorified God, saying, “Surely this Man was Just.”
48 And all the people that came together to that sight, observing the things which had been done, struck their breasts and returned.
49 And those who knew Him stood at a distance - and the women who followed Him from Galilee – observing these things.
50 And behold, there was a man named Joseph, who was a counselor; a good man, and just.
51 He had not consented to their counsel and deeds. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews. He also waited for the Kingdom of God.
52 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.
53 And he took it down and wrapped it in a linen cloth and laid it in a tomb, hewn out of a rock (in which no one had ever yet laid).
54 And that day was the Preparation. And the Sabbath drew near.
55 And also the women who followed (who came with Him from Galilee) saw the sepulcher, and how His body was laid.
56 And they returned and prepared odors, and ointments, and rested on the Sabbath, according to the Commandment.
Luke 23
EasyEnglish Bible
Pilate asks Jesus questions
23 All the people at the meeting stood up to leave. They took Jesus to stand in front of Pilate.[a] 2 Then they all started to tell Pilate that Jesus had done bad things. They said, ‘We found this man when he was telling our people wrong things. He said that we must not pay taxes to the Roman government. He also said that he himself is the Messiah, that is, a king.’
3 Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’
4 Pilate then said to the leaders of the priests and to all the crowd of people, ‘I cannot find any reason to say that this man is guilty.’ 5 But they continued to speak strongly to him. They said, ‘He makes the people angry and ready to fight against the government. He has taught these bad things everywhere in Judea. He started in Galilee and now he has come to Jerusalem.’
6 When Pilate heard this, he asked if Jesus came from Galilee. 7 He discovered that he was from the country where Herod ruled. So Pilate sent Jesus to stand in front of Herod. Herod was also in Jerusalem at that time.[b]
Herod asks Jesus questions
8 Herod was very happy to see Jesus. He had heard about him and he had wanted to meet him for a long time. He wanted to see Jesus do something to show God's power. 9 He asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus did not answer any of them. 10 The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law stood there. They were shouting out that Jesus had done many bad things. 11 Then Herod and his soldiers started to laugh at Jesus. They were saying things to make him feel bad. They put a beautiful coat on him. Then they sent him back to Pilate. 12 That same day, Herod and Pilate became friends. Until then, they had not liked each other.
Pilate and the Jewish leaders argue about Jesus
13 Pilate then told the leaders of the priests, the leaders of the Jews and the people to come back to him. 14 He said to them, ‘You brought this man to me. You said that he was causing the people to fight against their rulers. Listen! I have asked him some questions in front of you. But I have not found that he has done anything wrong. 15 Herod also did not find that he had done anything wrong. That is why he has sent him back to me. You can see this. He has not done anything bad that means he ought to die. 16 So I will just punish him. I will command a soldier to hit him with whips. Then I will let him go.’
17 [Pilate usually let one person go free out of the prison at Passover time.][c]
18 But the crowd all shouted together, ‘Take this man away and kill him! We want Barabbas to go free.’
19 Barabbas had fought against the Roman rulers in Jerusalem. He had also killed somebody. That is why the rulers had put him in prison. 20 But Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go. So he spoke to the crowd again. 21 But they continued to shout. They were shouting, ‘Kill him on a cross, kill him on a cross.’[d]
22 Pilate asked them the same question for the third time. ‘Why should I kill him? What wrong things has he done? You want me to say that he should die. But I have not found anything wrong that would cause me to say that. So I will punish him. I will command my soldiers to hit him with a whip. Then I will let him go.’
23 But they continued to shout at Pilate, ‘Kill him on a cross.’ They continued to shout very much. So, in the end, 24 Pilate did what they wanted. 25 They had asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free out of the prison. He was the man that had caused the Jewish people to fight against the Roman rulers. He had also killed somebody. He was the man that Pilate let go free. As for Jesus, Pilate commanded the soldiers to take him away. He let the people do to him what they wanted.
They kill Jesus on a cross
26 So the soldiers took Jesus away, to go to the place where they would kill him. On the way, they took hold of a man called Simon. This man was from the town of Cyrene. He was coming in from outside the city. The soldiers took the cross that Jesus was carrying on his shoulders. They made Simon carry it instead as he walked behind Jesus.
27 A very large crowd of people were following Jesus. There were many women among them. They were crying with loud voices. They were weeping and crying because they were very sad. 28 So Jesus turned round and he said to them, ‘You women that live in Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Instead, cry for yourselves and for your children. 29 Listen! Days will come when people will say, “It is better for those women that could not have babies. Those women that never had babies to feed are the happy ones!” 30 People will begin to say, “It would be better if we were dead.” They will ask the mountains to fall on top of them. They will ask the hills to cover them up. 31 There is much trouble and pain now. But much worse things will happen! Now the fire burns slowly. But soon it will be like a fire that quickly burns dry wood!’[e]
32 The soldiers also took two other men out of the prison. These men had done bad things. The soldiers would kill them and Jesus together. 33 They took them to the place that is called ‘The Skull’. There they fixed Jesus to a cross to die. They also fixed the two bad men to crosses. One of these men was on the right side of Jesus. The other was on his left side.
34 Jesus said, ‘Father, these people do not know what they are doing. So please forgive them.’
The soldiers then picked up Jesus' clothes for themselves. They played a game to decide who would receive each piece of his clothes. 35 The people stood there and they were watching. The Jewish leaders were laughing at Jesus. They said, ‘He saved other people, did he? Then he should save his own life! Then we will know that he is really the Messiah, the man that God has chosen.’
36 The soldiers also laughed at him. They came up to him and they offered him cheap wine to drink. 37 They said, ‘If you are really the King of the Jews, save your own life.’
38 There was also a notice fixed at the top of the cross. It said, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
39 One of the bad men on a cross at the side of Jesus started to insult him. He shouted, ‘You say that you are the Messiah, don't you? Then save your own life and save our lives too!’
40 But the bad man on the other cross told him that he should be quiet. He said, ‘You should be more afraid of God. We will die here, as well as him. 41 We two men have done very bad things. So it is right that we should die. But this man has not done anything wrong.’ 42 Then the man said to Jesus, ‘Remember me, Jesus, when you start to rule in your kingdom.’ 43 Jesus replied, ‘I promise you, today you will be with me in paradise.’
Jesus dies
44 It was now about midday. The whole country became dark for three hours. 45 The sun did not give any light. Then the curtain inside the temple tore into two parts. 46 Then Jesus shouted loudly, ‘Father, I give my spirit to you.’ After he shouted this, he died.
47 There was a captain of the soldiers there. When he saw what had happened, he praised God. He said. ‘I am sure that this man had not done anything wrong.’
48 A very big crowd had come together to watch the men die. They saw what had happened. Then they began to go home. They were very sad, and they were hitting their own bodies with their hands. 49 The friends of Jesus were there. The women that had come with him from Galilee were also there. They were all standing a long way away. They also saw what happened to him.
Joseph buries Jesus
50 A man called Joseph was also there. He was one of a special group of important Jewish leaders.[f] He was a good man that wanted to do right things. 51 He was from the Jewish town of Arimathea. He had not agreed with the other leaders that Jesus should die. He was waiting for God to begin to rule his people in his kingdom.
52 So Joseph went to see Pilate. He asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate agreed to this. 53 Joseph then went to the place where Jesus died. He took the dead body down from the cross. He put a piece of linen cloth around the body. Then he put the body into a large hole in the rock. People had made that hole to put dead bodies in, but it was the first time that anyone had used it.[g]
54 This all happened on the day before the Jewish day of rest. It was nearly time for the Jewish day of rest to begin.[h]
Jesus becomes alive again
55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph. They saw the place where the hole in the rock was. They also saw Joseph put Jesus' body into the empty hole. 56 Then they returned to the house where they were staying in Jerusalem. They prepared spices and oil that had a beautiful smell. On the Jewish day of rest they obeyed God's Law and they did not work.
Footnotes
- 23:1 Pontius Pilate ruled over this part of the land that the Romans ruled. He ruled over Jerusalem.
- 23:7 Herod was a king and he ruled over the whole of Galilee. It was Herod that had killed John the Baptist.
- 23:17 Verse 17 is not in many copies of Luke.
- 23:21 Roman rulers fixed bad people to a big cross made from wood, to kill them.
- 23:31 Again, Jesus is telling the people that enemies will soon destroy Jerusalem. Jesus is like a tree that is alive. He has not done anything wrong. But still the Romans will kill him on a cross. The bad people in Jerusalem are like dry wood. They have done many wrong things. The Romans will do worse things to them.
- 23:50 This was the same group that asked Jesus questions. They had wanted Pilate to kill Jesus.
- 23:53 At that time, they put dead bodies in a hole in a rock. Then the family and friends closed the front with a big stone.
- 23:54 For the Jews, the end of a day was when the sun went down, at about six o'clock in the evening. Then the next day began.
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