Mark 15 (New American Standard)

Jesus before Pilate

1 ¹Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole ^a2Council, immediately held a consultation ; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. 2 ³Pilate questioned Him, "Are You the King of the Jews ?" And He answered him, "It is as you say." 3 The chief priests began to accuse Him ^bharshly. 4 Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, "Do You not answer ? See how many charges they bring against You!" 5 But Jesus ⁴made no further answer ; so Pilate was amazed. 6 ⁵Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. 7 The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. 8 The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. 9 Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews ?" 10 For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd ⁶to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. 12 Answering again, Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews ?" 13 They shouted ^cback, "Crucify Him!" 14 But Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has He done ?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify Him!" 15 Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus ⁷scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

16 ⁸The soldiers took Him away into ⁹the ^dpalace (that is, the Praetorium ), and they called together the whole Roman ^e10cohort. 17 They dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; 18 and they began to acclaim Him, "Hail, King of the Jews !" 19 They kept beating His head with a ^freed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. 20 After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him. 21 ¹¹They pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and ¹²Rufus ), to bear His cross.

The Crucifixion

22 ¹³Then they brought Him to the place ¹⁴Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. 23 They tried to give Him ¹⁵wine mixed with myrrh ; but He did not take it. 24 And they crucified Him, and ¹⁶divided up His garments among themselves, casting ^glots for them to decide ^hwhat each man should take. 25 It was the ⁱ¹⁷third hour ^jwhen they crucified Him. 26 The inscription of the charge against Him ^kread, "¹⁸THE KING OF THE JEWS." 27 They crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. 28 [^lAnd the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with transgressors."] 29 Those passing by were ^mhurling abuse at Him, ¹⁹wagging their heads, and saying, "Ha ! You who are going to ²⁰destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30 save Yourself, and come down from the cross !" 31 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, "²¹He saved others ; ⁿHe cannot save Himself. 32 "Let this Christ, ²²the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe !" ²³Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. 33 ²⁴When the ^o25sixth hour came, darkness ^pfell over the whole land until the ^q26ninth hour. 34 At the ²⁷ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "²⁸ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI ?" which is translated, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" 35 When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, "Behold, He is calling for Elijah." 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, "^rLet us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down." 37 ²⁹And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. 38 ³⁰And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. 39 ³¹When the centurion, who was standing ^sright in front of Him, saw ^tthe way He breathed His last, he said, "Truly this man was ^uthe Son of God !" 40 ³²There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of ^vJames ³³the ^wLess and Joses, and ³⁴Salome. 41 When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and ^x35minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

42 ³⁶When evening had already come, because it was ³⁷the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43 Joseph of Arimathea came, a ³⁸prominent member of the Council, who himself was ³⁹waiting for the kingdom of God ; and he ⁴⁰gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. 44 Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. 45 And ascertaining this from ⁴¹the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. 46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock ; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47 ⁴²Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.