8
The crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he always did.
9
Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to free the king of the Jews for you?"
10
Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.
11
The chief priests stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would free Barabbas for them instead.
12
So Pilate again asked them, "Then what should I do with the king of the Jews?"
13
"Crucify him!" they shouted back.
14
Pilate said to them, "Why? What has he done wrong?" But they shouted even louder, "Crucify him!"
15
Pilate wanted to satisfy the people, so he freed Barabbas for them. But he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.
16
The soldiers led Jesus into the courtyard of the palace and called together the whole troop.
17
They dressed him in purple, twisted some thorns into a crown, and placed it on his head.
18
Then they began to greet him, "Long live the king of the Jews!"