Mark 15:6-15

Expanded Bible

Pilate Tries to Free Jesus^(A)

⁶ Every year at the ·time of the Passover [festival/feast] the governor would free one prisoner whom the people ·chose [requested]. ⁷ At that time, there was a man named Barabbas in prison, one of a group of rebels who had committed murder during ·a riot [the uprising/insurrection]. ⁸ The crowd came to Pilate and began to ask him to free a prisoner as he always did.

⁹ So Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰ Pilate knew that the ·leading [^Tchief] priests had turned Jesus in to him because they were jealous. ¹¹ But the ·leading [^Tchief] priests had ·persuaded [stirred up] the people to ask Pilate to free Barabbas, not Jesus.

¹² Then Pilate asked the crowd again, “So what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³ They shouted, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴ Pilate asked, “Why? What ·wrong [crime; evil] has he done?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Pilate wanted to ·please [satisfy] the crowd, so he freed Barabbas for them. After having Jesus ·beaten with whips [flogged; scourged], he handed Jesus over to the soldiers to be crucified.