Mark 15

And immediately, early in the morning after making a plan, the chief priests with the elders and experts in the law and the whole Sanhedrin bound Jesus, and led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

And Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” And he answered and said to him, “Yes, it is as you say.”

And the chief priests accused him of many things.

And Pilate asked him again, saying, “Are you not going to answer at all? Look how many things they are accusing you of!”

But Jesus gave no further answer, so Pilate was amazed.

Now at the Passover Feast it was a custom that he released one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.

And there was a man called Barabbas, who had been imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder during the rebellion.

And the crowd went up to Pilate and began to ask him to release someone for them as he usually did.

And Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”

For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.

But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead.

And Pilate continued to ask, saying to them, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

And they shouted out again, “Crucify him!”

And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted out even louder, “Crucify him!”

And Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them. And after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

And the soldiers led him away inside the palace (that is the governor’s headquarters), and they called together the whole cohort of Roman soldiers.

And they clothed him in a purple robe, and after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him,

and they began to greet him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”

And they kept striking his head with a reed and spitting on him, and kneeling down, they paid homage to him.

And after they had mocked him, they took the purple robe off of him, and put his own clothes on him. And they led him out to crucify him.

And they forced someone passing by to go with them to carry his cross. It was Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the countryside (the father of Alexander and Rufus).

And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which is translated, “Place of the Skull”).

And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he would not receive it.

And they crucified him and divided his clothes among them, casting lots for them to determine what each of them would take.

And it was the third hour when they crucified him.

And the inscription of the charge against him read, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

And they crucified two rebels with him, one on his right hand and one on his left.

[[And the Scripture was fulfilled, which says, And he was numbered with the transgressors.]]

And those who passed by were hurling insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! The one who claimed he would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days,

save yourself and come down from the cross.”

In the same way the chief priests, along with the experts in the law, were also mocking him with each other, saying, “He saved others, but he is not able to save himself!

Let the Christ, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we can see it and believe.” Even those who were crucified with him were insulting him.

And when the sixth hour came, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” (which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)

And some of those who stood by, when they heard this, said, “Look! He is calling for Elijah.”

And someone ran and filled a sponge full of wine vinegar, put it on a stick and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down.”

And Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last.

And the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from the top to the bottom.

And when the centurion who stood right in front of him saw how he died, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”

And there were also women watching from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Younger and Joses, and Salome,

(all of whom had followed him and ministered to him when he was in Galilee), and many other women who came up to Jerusalem with him.

And when evening had already come, because it was the Day of Preparation (that is, the day before the Sabbath),

Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Council who himself was also waiting for the Kingdom of God, came and boldly went in before Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

And Pilate was surprised that he had already died, and calling the centurion to himself, he questioned him to find out if he had already died.

And when he learned of Jesus’ death from the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph.

And having bought a linen cloth, he took him down, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of a rock. And he rolled a stone in front of the entrance of the tomb.

And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.