Mark 15
Common English Bible
Trial before Pilate
15 At daybreak, the chief priests—with the elders, legal experts, and the whole Sanhedrin—formed a plan. They bound Jesus, led him away, and turned him over to Pilate. 2 Pilate questioned him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Jesus replied, “That’s what you say.” 3 The chief priests were accusing him of many things.
4 Pilate asked him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? What about all these accusations?” 5 But Jesus gave no more answers, so that Pilate marveled.
6 During the festival, Pilate released one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. 7 A man named Barabbas was locked up with the rebels who had committed murder during an uprising. 8 The crowd pushed forward and asked Pilate to release someone, as he regularly did. 9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” 10 He knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of jealousy. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead. 12 Pilate replied, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?”
13 They shouted back, “Crucify him!”
14 Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done?”
They shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.
Jesus is tortured and killed
16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the courtyard of the palace known as the governor’s headquarters,[a] and they called together the whole company of soldiers.[b] 17 They dressed him up in a purple robe and twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on him. 18 They saluted him, “Hey! King of the Jews!” 19 Again and again, they struck his head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt before him to honor him. 20 When they finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.
21 Simon, a man from Cyrene, Alexander and Rufus’ father, was coming in from the countryside. They forced him to carry his cross.
22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place. 23 They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he didn’t take it. 24 They crucified him. They divided up his clothes, drawing lots for them to determine who would take what. 25 It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. 26 The notice of the formal charge against him was written, “The king of the Jews.” 27 They crucified two outlaws with him, one on his right and one on his left.[c]
29 People walking by insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! So you were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, were you? 30 Save yourself and come down from that cross!”
31 In the same way, the chief priests were making fun of him among themselves, together with the legal experts. “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself. 32 Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross. Then we’ll see and believe.” Even those who had been crucified with Jesus insulted him.
33 From noon until three in the afternoon the whole earth was dark. 34 At three, Jesus cried out with a loud shout, “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani,” which means, “My God, my God, why have you left me?”
35 After hearing him, some standing there said, “Look! He’s calling Elijah!” 36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, and put it on a pole. He offered it to Jesus to drink, saying, “Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down.” 37 But Jesus let out a loud cry and died.
38 The curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “This man was certainly God’s Son.”
40 Some women were watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James (the younger one) and Joses, and Salome. 41 When Jesus was in Galilee, these women had followed and supported him, along with many other women who had come to Jerusalem with him.
Jesus’ burial
42 Since it was late in the afternoon on Preparation Day, just before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph from Arimathea dared to approach Pilate and ask for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a prominent council member who also eagerly anticipated the coming of God’s kingdom.) 44 Pilate wondered if Jesus was already dead. He called the centurion and asked him whether Jesus had already died. 45 When he learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, Pilate gave the dead body to Joseph. 46 He bought a linen cloth, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been carved out of rock. He rolled a stone against the entrance to the tomb. 47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was buried.
Footnotes
- Mark 15:16 Or praetorium
- Mark 15:16 Or cohort (approximately six hundred soldiers)
- Mark 15:27 15:28 is omitted in most critical editions of the Gk New Testament The scripture was fulfilled, which says, He was numbered among criminals.
Mark 15
EasyEnglish Bible
Pilate asks Jesus questions
15 Very early the next morning, all the Jewish leaders met together. The leaders of the priests met with the leaders, the teachers of God's Law, and the other important Jews. They decided what they would do. They tied Jesus' hands and feet and they took him to Pilate's house. They put him under Pilate's authority.[a]
2 Pilate asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’
Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’
3 Then the leaders of the priests told Pilate that Jesus had done many bad things. 4 So Pilate asked him again, ‘What is your answer? You should say something! Listen! They are saying that you have done many bad things.’
5 But Jesus still did not reply to what the men were saying against him. Pilate was very surprised about that.
6 During the Passover festival each year, Pilate let one person go free out of the prison. The people had to ask him for the person that they wanted. 7 A man called Barabbas was in the prison at that time. He and some other men had fought against the Roman rulers. And they had killed someone when they were fighting. 8 The crowd came to Pilate. They asked him to do what he usually did at this time.
9 Pilate asked the people, ‘Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?’ 10 Pilate knew why the leaders of the priests had brought Jesus to him. They were jealous because people liked Jesus so much. 11 But the leaders of the priests talked strongly to the people. They said, ‘Ask Pilate to let Barabbas go free instead of Jesus.’
12 Pilate asked the crowd again, ‘So what should I do to Jesus? He is the man that you call “the king of the Jews”.’
13 The people shouted back to Pilate: ‘Kill him on a cross!’
14 ‘Why should I kill him?’ Pilate asked. ‘What bad things has he done?’
But the people shouted even louder, ‘Kill him on a cross!’
15 Pilate decided to do what the crowd wanted.[b] So he let Barabbas go free. He said to his soldiers, ‘Hit Jesus many times with a whip.[c] Then take him and fix him on a cross to die.’
16 So the soldiers took Jesus to the yard at the ruler's house. They told all the soldiers in their group to come there. 17 Then they put a dark red coat on Jesus. They used some branches with thorns to make a crown for him.[d] They put it on his head.
18 Then the soldiers began to laugh at Jesus. They said, ‘Hello, King of the Jews, you are great!’ 19 They took a stick and they hit him on the head with it many times. They spat on him. Then they went down on their knees in front of him. They told him how great he was. 20 When they had stopped laughing at him, they took the dark red coat off him. They put his own clothes back on him. Then they took him away to the place where they would kill him on a cross.
The soldiers put Jesus on a cross
21 When the soldiers were taking Jesus out to that place, a man called Simon was there. He was coming in from outside the city. He was from the city of Cyrene, and he was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers told Simon that he must carry Jesus' cross. 22 The soldiers took Jesus to a place that is called Golgotha. (Golgotha means ‘the place of a skull’.)[e]
23 They tried to give Jesus some wine to drink. They had mixed some medicine called myrrh into the wine. But Jesus would not drink it. 24 Then the soldiers fixed Jesus onto the cross. They took his clothes for themselves. They played a game to decide which soldier would receive each of his clothes.
25 It was about nine o'clock in the morning when the soldiers fixed Jesus to the cross. 26 They put a notice there to show the reason why they were killing him. It said, ‘The King of the Jews’. 27 They also put two robbers on crosses near to Jesus. One robber was on Jesus' right side. The other robber was on his left side. 28 [The Bible says that this would happen.[f] It says, ‘People thought of him as someone who did not obey God's Law.’][g]
29 The people who walked near there insulted Jesus. They laughed at him and they said, ‘Oh! You said that you would destroy the temple. And you said that in three days you would build it again. 30 If you can really do that, save yourself. Come down from the cross!’
31 The leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law laughed at him. They said to each other, ‘This man saved other people, did he? But he cannot save his own life! 32 If he is the Messiah, the king of Israel, he should come down from the cross now. Then we would see it and we would believe in him.’ The two men who were on the crosses next to Jesus also insulted him.
Jesus dies
33 At midday, the whole country became dark for three hours. 34 At three o'clock in the afternoon, Jesus shouted loudly, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ That means, ‘My God, my God, why have you left me alone?’
35 Some people who were standing near there heard him. They said to each other, ‘Look! He is shouting to Elijah.’
36 One man ran to get a piece of cloth. He poured cheap wine on it, and he put it on the end of a stick. Then he lifted it up to Jesus so that he could drink the wine from it. The man said, ‘Wait! Now we will see if Elijah comes to take him down from the cross.’
37 Then Jesus shouted loudly, and after that he died.
38 And the curtain inside the temple completely tore into two parts from the top down to the bottom.[h]
39 The captain of the soldiers was standing there in front of Jesus.[i] He saw how Jesus died. ‘It must be true!’ he said. ‘This man really was the Son of God.’
40 Some women were also there. They were watching these events from a long way away. Mary from Magdala was one of the women. Mary the mother of the younger James and Joses was also there. Salome was there too. 41 These women had travelled with Jesus when he was in Galilee and they had helped him. Many other women were also there near the cross. They had come to Jerusalem with Jesus.
Joseph buries Jesus' dead body
42 It was Friday and the Jews were preparing for their day of rest on the Sabbath. 43 That evening, a man called Joseph went to see Pilate. Joseph was from a town called Arimathea. He was a good man and he was one of the group of important Jewish leaders. He was waiting for the time when God would start to rule his people in his kingdom. Joseph bravely asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus to bury it. 44 Pilate was surprised that Jesus had already died. He asked the captain of the soldiers to come to him. He asked him if Jesus had already died. 45 The captain told Pilate that Jesus was already dead. So then Pilate let Joseph go and take Jesus' dead body. 46 Joseph bought a piece of linen cloth. He took Jesus' body down from the cross and he put the cloth around it. Then he put the body in a large hole in a rock. People had made that hole to put dead bodies in. After this, Joseph rolled a big stone across the front of the hole to shut it.
47 Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of Joses were watching. They saw where Joseph had put Jesus' dead body.
Footnotes
- 15:1 Pilate ruled Jerusalem on behalf of the Roman government.
- 15:15 Pilate was afraid that the crowd would start to fight. So he did what they had asked him to do. He wanted them to be happy.
- 15:15 People with authority used a whip to punish someone who had done something wrong. It had long narrow pieces of leather. And there were pieces of metal on the ends of them.
- 15:17 A crown is usually a special hat that a king wears. But this crown had sharp bits and it was painful for Jesus to wear it. The dark red coat was also like the coat that a king wore. The soldiers did not believe that Jesus was really a king.
- 15:22 The skull is the bone inside the head. Golgotha was the place where the Roman soldiers killed robbers.
- 15:28 See Isaiah 53:12.
- 15:28 Verse 28 is not in many old copies of Mark's book.
- 15:38 The curtain was in front of the special room inside the temple. God caused it to tear from the top down. The curtain was too thick for a man to tear it.
- 15:39 The captain was an important soldier. He had authority over 100 other soldiers.
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