Pilate Releases Barabbas
15 Now at each feast, the governor was accustomed to release one prisoner to the crowd--the one whom they wanted.
16
And at that time they had a notorious prisoner named Jesus Barabbas.
17
So [after] they had assembled, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release for you--Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?"
18
(For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.
19
And [while] he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent [a message] to him, saying, "{Have nothing to do with that righteous man}, for I have suffered much as a result of a dream today because of him.")
20
But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds that they should ask for Barabbas and put Jesus to death.
21
So the governor answered [and] said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release for you?" And they said, "Barabbas!"
22
Pilate said to them, "What then should I do [with] Jesus, the one who is called Christ?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!"
23
And he said, "Why? What wrong has he done?" But they began to shout even louder, saying, "Let him be crucified!"
24
So Pilate, [when he] saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but instead an uproar was developing, took water [and] washed his hands before the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to [it]!"
25
And all the people answered [and] said, "His blood [be] on us and on our children!"
26
Then he released Barabbas for them, but [after] he had Jesus flogged, he handed [him] over so that he could be crucified.