New Testament in a Year

Pilate Questions Jesus^(A)

23 Then the entire assembly stood up and took him to Pilate.

² They began to accuse Jesus by saying, “We found that he stirs up trouble among our people: He keeps them from paying taxes to the emperor, and he says that he is Christ, a king.”

³ Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Yes, I am,” Jesus answered.

⁴ Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I can’t find this man guilty of any crime.”

Pilate Sends Jesus to Herod

⁵ The priests and the crowd became more forceful. They said, “He stirs up the people throughout Judea with his teachings. He started in Galilee and has come here.”

⁶ When Pilate heard that, he asked if the man was from Galilee. ⁷ When Pilate found out that he was, he sent Jesus to Herod. Herod ruled Galilee and was in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ Herod was very pleased to see Jesus. For a long time he had wanted to see him. He had heard about Jesus and hoped to see him perform some kind of miracle. ⁹ Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus wouldn’t answer him. ¹⁰ Meanwhile, the chief priests and the experts in Moses’ Teachings stood there and shouted their accusations against Jesus.

¹¹ Herod and his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt and made fun of him. They put a colorful robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹² So Herod and Pilate became friends that day. They had been enemies before this.

¹³ Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people. ¹⁴ He told them, “You brought me this man as someone who turns the people against the government. I’ve questioned him in front of you and haven’t found this man guilty of the crimes of which you accuse him. ¹⁵ Neither could Herod. So he sent this man back to us. This man hasn’t done anything to deserve the death penalty. ¹⁶ So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.” ^[a]

The Crowd Rejects Jesus^(B)

¹⁸ The whole crowd then shouted, “Take him away! Free Barabbas for us.” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for his involvement in a riot that had taken place in the city and for murder.)

²⁰ But because Pilate wanted to free Jesus, he spoke to the people again.

²¹ They began yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² A third time Pilate spoke to them. He asked, “Why? What has he done wrong? I haven’t found this man deserving of the death penalty. So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.”

²³ But the crowd pressured Pilate. They shouted that Jesus had to be crucified, and they finally won. ²⁴ Pilate decided to give in to their demand. ²⁵ He freed Barabbas, who had been put in prison for rioting and murdering, because that’s what they wanted. But he let them do what they wanted to Jesus.