¹⁷ So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?”^{(A) 18} For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

¹⁹ While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat,^(B) his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent^(C) man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream^(D) because of him.”

²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.^(E)

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”^(F) Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

⁹ “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”^(A) asked Pilate, ¹⁰ knowing it was out of self-interest that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas^(B) instead.

¹² “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

² And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation.^(A) He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar^(B) and claims to be Messiah, a king.”^(C)

³⁷ “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth.^(A) Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”^(B)

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.^{(C) 39} But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king^(A) opposes Caesar.”

¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat^(B) at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic^(C) is Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation^(D) of the Passover; it was about noon.^(E)

“Here is your king,”^(F) Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

²¹ The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”^(A)