Matthew 27:45-49

Easy-to-Read Version

Jesus Dies^(A)

⁴⁵ At noon the whole country became dark. The darkness continued for three hours. ⁴⁶ About three o’clock Jesus cried out loudly, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” This means “My God, my God, why have you left me alone?”^[a]

⁴⁷ Some of the people standing there heard this. They said, “He is calling Elijah.”^[b]

⁴⁸ Quickly, one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled the sponge with sour wine and tied the sponge to a stick. Then he used the stick to give the sponge to Jesus to get a drink from it. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Don’t bother him. We want to see if Elijah will come to save him.”