New Testament in a Year
The leader of the priests asks Jesus questions
19 The leader of the priests asked Jesus questions about his disciples. He also asked about what Jesus taught. 20 Jesus answered him, ‘I have always taught in the Jewish meeting places, or at the temple. Those are public places where all the Jews meet together. I have said nothing secretly. 21 So you do not need to ask me these questions. You can ask the people who heard me when I taught them. They know what I said.’
22 When Jesus said this, one of the soldiers hit him on the face. The soldier said, ‘You should not speak to the leader of the priests like that!’ 23 Jesus replied, ‘If I said something wrong, tell us what it is. But if I said something that is true, you should not have hit me.’[a] 24 Then Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the leader of the priests.[b] Jesus still had ropes tied round his arms.
Peter says again that he does not know Jesus
25 Simon Peter was still standing there by the fire to make himself warm. The other people there said to him, ‘You must also be one of that man's disciples.’ But Peter said, ‘No, I am not.’
26 One of the people there was a servant of the leader of the priests. He belonged to the same family as the man whose ear Peter had cut off. This servant said to Peter, ‘I am sure that I saw you in the garden with Jesus.’ 27 Again, Peter said, ‘No, that is not true.’ Immediately a cockerel sang.
Pilate asks Jesus questions
28 The Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman ruler's big house.[c] It was early in the morning. The Jewish leaders wanted to follow the Jewish rules so that they could eat the Passover meal. They did not go into the ruler's house, because it would have made them unclean.[d]
29 So Pilate, the Roman ruler, went outside to meet them. He asked them, ‘What wrong thing do you say that this man has done?’ 30 They replied, ‘We would not have brought him to you if he had done nothing wrong.’ 31 Pilate said to them, ‘You yourselves take him away. You should judge him by your own laws.’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘We do not have authority to kill anyone when they have done something bad.’[e] 32 Jesus had already told people how he would die. These things happened to make his words become true.[f]
33 Pilate went back inside his palace. He told Jesus to come and stand in front of him. He asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ 34 Jesus said, ‘Is that your own idea, or have other people spoken to you about me?’ 35 Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? It was your own people and the leaders of your priests who brought you to me. What have you done?’
36 Jesus said, ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my disciples would have fought for me. They would have fought so that the Jewish leaders could not take hold of me. No, my kingdom belongs to another place.’ 37 Pilate said to him, ‘So that means you really are a king!’
Jesus answered, ‘You have said that I am a king! I was born for this reason: I came into the world to tell people the truth about God. Everyone who believes the truth listens to my message.’ 38 Pilate said, ‘I do not know what truth is.’
When Pilate had said that, he went outside again to the Jewish people there. He said to them, ‘I do not see that this man is guilty of anything wrong. I have no reason to punish him. 39 But every year we do something for you Jews. We let one man go free from the prison at the time of your Passover festival. Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?’ 40 They shouted their answer, ‘No, we do not want him! Let Barabbas go free!’ (Barabbas was a man who had attacked people and robbed them.)
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