John

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, placed it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment. ³They kept saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they kept slapping him.

⁴Then Pilate went out again. He said to the Jews,¹²⁴⁹ “Behold, I bring him out to you, so that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁵When Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment, Pilate said to them, “Behold, the man!”

⁶But when the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

Pilate answered, “Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to our law, he should die, because he made himself the Son of God.”

⁸However, when Pilate heard these words, he was even more afraid. ⁹Returning into the Praetorium, he asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰Then Pilate asked him, “Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have the power to crucify you, and the power to release you?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me to you has a greater sin.”

¹²From then on, Pilate tried to release Jesus, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”

¹³When Pilate heard this word, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called “The Pavement,” and in Hebrew, “Gabbatha.” ¹⁴Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour.¹²⁵⁰ He said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”

¹⁵But they shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?”

The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

The crucifixion—John and the Lord’s mother

¹⁶And so, Pilate delivered Jesus to them to be crucified. <Then the guards¹²⁵¹ took Jesus and led him away.>^{1252 17}He went out, bearing his cross, to the place called “The Place of a Skull,” which is called in Hebrew, “Golgotha.” ¹⁸There they crucified him, and along with him two other men, one on each side and Jesus in the middle. ¹⁹Pilate also wrote a notice and had it placed on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” ²⁰Many of the Jews read this inscription because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. ²¹Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘he said, I am King of the Jews.’”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, to every soldier a part; with the tunic¹²⁵³ remaining. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. ²⁴Then they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be!” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says:

They have divided my garments among them and

for my cloak they cast lots.¹²⁵⁴

And this is what the soldiers did. ²⁵But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister¹²⁵⁵ (Mary [the wife]¹²⁵⁶ of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

²⁸After this, perceiving that all things were now accomplished,¹²⁵⁷ and so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹Now a vessel full of sour wine had been placed there; so [the soldiers] filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on [a stick of] hyssop, and held it at his mouth. ³⁰Then, after Jesus received the sour wine, he said, “It is accomplished!”¹²⁵⁸ And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Pierced by a lance—Blood and water: the seventh sign

³¹Because it was the Day of Preparation, in order that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), the Jews asked Pilate that the legs [of those crucified] might be broken, and that they might be removed. ³²Therefore, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first who had been crucified with Jesus, then the legs of the other. ³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately, blood and water came out. ³⁵He who has seen [this] has borne witness, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, so that you may believe. ³⁶For these things happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.”^{1259 37}Again, another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”¹²⁶⁰

Joseph of Arimathea—The Lord’s burial

³⁸And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea (who was a disciple of Jesus but secretly for fear of the Jews) asked Pilate for permission to take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, and so Joseph came and took away his body. ³⁹And Nicodemus (who earlier had come to Jesus by night) also came and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred Roman pounds.^{1261 40}Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹Now there was a garden at the place where Jesus had been crucified. In the garden, there was a new tomb in which no one had ever yet been laid. ⁴²Then, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

The empty tomb—Appearance to Mary Magdalene

1249. Greek “them”
1250. “the sixth hour” would have been 6:00 am according to the Roman timekeeping system, or noon for the Jewish timekeeping system.
1251. Greek “they”
1252. CT omits the second part of this verse.
1253. Or “undergarment”
1254. Psalm 22:18/21 LXX; Mark 15:24
1255. In this verse, perhaps “sister-in-law” (Clopas may have been Joseph’s brother or a close relative). See Appendix E.
1256. The expression ‘Mary of Clopas’ in the Greek text is ambiguous as to whether Mary was the daughter or wife of Clopas, but exegesis has commonly favored the reading “wife of Clopas” (as reflected in above translation). However, some commentators have held that St. Anne had three husbands and see Clopas as one of Anne’s husbands and father of Mary of Clopas.
1257. Greek tete,lesta (conveys the idea of reaching an end or purpose)
1258. Greek tete,lesta (conveys the idea of reaching an end or purpose)
1259. Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20/33 LXX
1260. Zechariah 12:10. Compare LXX and MT (MT has “look on me whom they pierced”)
1261. 100 Roman pounds of 12 ounces each, or about 72 pounds, or 33 Kilograms