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People passing by shook their heads and hurled insults at Jesus:
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"You were going to tear down the Temple and build it back up in three days! Save yourself if you are God's Son! Come on down from the cross!"
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In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the Law and the elders made fun of him:
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"He saved others, but he cannot save himself! Isn't he the king of Israel? If he will come down off the cross now, we will believe in him!
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He trusts in God and claims to be God's Son. Well, then, let us see if God wants to save him now!"
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Even the bandits who had been crucified with him insulted him in the same way.
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At noon the whole country was covered with darkness, which lasted for three hours.
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At about three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, ["Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?"] which means, "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?"
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Some of the people standing there heard him and said, "He is calling for Elijah!"
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One of them ran up at once, took a sponge, soaked it in cheap wine, put it on the end of a stick, and tried to make him drink it.
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But the others said, "Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him!"