Mark 15
Authorized (King James) Version
15 And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate. 2 And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it. 3 And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing. 4 And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee. 5 But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.
6 Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired. 7 And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection. 8 And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. 9 But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? 10 For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. 11 But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them. 12 And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? 13 And they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him. 15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
16 And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Prætorium; and they call together the whole band. 17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 18 and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! 19 And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him. 20 And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him. 21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
22 And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 23 And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not. 24 And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take. 25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him. 26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS. 27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left. 28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 30 save thyself, and come down from the cross. 31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. 32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. 36 And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. 37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.
40 There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome; 41 (who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.
42 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathæa, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. 44 And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. 45 And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. 47 And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.
Mark 15
Easy-to-Read Version
Governor Pilate Questions Jesus(A)
15 Very early in the morning, the leading priests, the older Jewish leaders, the teachers of the law, and the whole high council decided what to do with Jesus. They tied him, led him away, and handed him over to Governor Pilate.
2 Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus answered, “Yes, that is right.”
3 The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. 4 So Pilate asked Jesus another question. He said, “You can see that these people are accusing you of many things. Why don’t you answer?”
5 But Jesus still did not answer, and this really surprised Pilate.
Pilate Tries but Fails to Free Jesus(B)
6 Every year at the Passover time the governor would free one prisoner—whichever one the people wanted. 7 There was a man in prison at that time named Barabbas. He and the rebels with him had been put in prison for committing murder during a riot.
8 The people came to Pilate and asked him to free a prisoner as he always did. 9 Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” 10 Pilate knew that the leading priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous of him. 11 But the leading priests persuaded the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.
12 Pilate asked the people again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
13 The people shouted, “Kill him on a cross!”
14 Pilate asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
But the people shouted louder and louder, “Kill him on a cross!”
15 Pilate wanted to please the people, so he set Barabbas free for them. And he told the soldiers to beat Jesus with whips. Then he handed him over to the soldiers to be killed on a cross.
16 Pilate’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s palace (called the Praetorium). They called all the other soldiers together. 17 They put a purple robe on Jesus, made a crown from thorny branches, and put it on his head. 18 Then they began shouting, “Welcome, king of the Jews!” 19 They kept on beating his head with a stick and spitting on him. Then they bowed down on their knees and pretended to honor him as a king. 20 After they finished making fun of him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him out of the palace to be killed on a cross.
Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross(C)
21 There was a man from Cyrene named Simon walking into the city from the fields. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 22 They led Jesus to the place called Golgotha. (Golgotha means “The Place of the Skull.”) 23 There they gave him some wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused to drink it. 24 The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross. Then they divided his clothes among themselves, throwing dice to see who would get what.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they nailed Jesus to the cross. 26 There was a sign with the charge against him written on it. It said, “ the king of the jews.” 27 They also nailed two criminals to crosses beside Jesus—one on the right and the other on the left. 28 [a]
29 People walked by and said bad things to Jesus. They shook their heads and said, “You said you could destroy the Temple and build it again in three days. 30 So save yourself! Come down from that cross!”
31 The leading priests and the teachers of the law were also there. They made fun of Jesus the same as the other people did. They said to each other, “He saved others, but he can’t save himself! 32 If he is really the Messiah, the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross now. When we see this, then we will believe in him.” The criminals on the crosses beside Jesus also said bad things to him.
Jesus Dies(D)
33 At noon the whole country became dark. This darkness continued until three o’clock. 34 At three o’clock Jesus cried out loudly, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani.” This means “My God, my God, why have you left me alone?”[b]
35 Some of the people standing there heard this. They said, “Listen! He is calling Elijah.”[c]
36 One man there ran and got a sponge. He filled the sponge with sour wine and tied it to a stick. Then he used the stick to give the sponge to Jesus to get a drink from it. The man said, “We should wait now and see if Elijah will come to take him down from the cross.”
37 Then Jesus cried out loudly and died.
38 When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple was torn into two pieces. The tear started at the top and tore all the way to the bottom. 39 The army officer who was standing there in front of the cross saw what happened when Jesus died. The officer said, “This man really was the Son of God!”
40 Some women were standing away from the cross, watching. Among these women were Mary Magdalene, Salome, and Mary the mother of James and Joses. (James was her youngest son.) 41 These were the women who had followed Jesus in Galilee and cared for him. Many other women who had come with Jesus to Jerusalem were also there.
Jesus Is Buried(E)
42 This day was called Preparation day. (That means the day before the Sabbath day.) It was becoming dark. 43 A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to go to Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. Joseph was an important member of the high council. He was one of the people who wanted God’s kingdom to come.
44 Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead. So he called for the army officer in charge and asked him if Jesus was already dead. 45 When Pilate heard it from the officer, he told Joseph he could have the body.
46 Joseph bought some linen cloth. He took the body from the cross, wrapped it in the linen, and put the body in a tomb that was dug in a wall of rock. Then he closed the tomb by rolling a large stone to cover the entrance. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw the place where Jesus was put.
Footnotes
- Mark 15:28 Some Greek copies add verse 28: “And this showed the full meaning of the Scripture that says, ‘They put him with criminals.’”
- Mark 15:34
Quote from Ps. 22:1. - Mark 15:35 He is calling Elijah The word for “My God” ( Eli in Hebrew or Eloi in Aramaic) sounded to the people like the name of Elijah, a famous man who spoke for God about 850 B.C.
KJV reproduced by permission of Cambridge University Press, the Crown’s patentee in the UK.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International