1 Then all the leaders got up and took Jesus to Pilate. Pilate was the Roman ruler who ruled over all the people in Judea. 2 Then they began to blame him there at Pilate's place.

They said to Pilate, “We found this man speaking bad words. He has been teaching the people, telling them not to pay their tax money to the ruler Caesar. And he has said, ‘I am the Messiah - I am a king.’ ”

3 Pilate said to Jesus, “You are the king of the Jewish people, are you?”

Jesus answered, “That is what you say.”

4 Then Pilate spoke to the chief priests and the crowds of people and said, “I cannot find anything wrong with this man.”

5 But they kept on saying to Pilate, “It is true, he has been teaching the people wrong things. And now he has begun to make trouble with them. He started in Galilee first of all, then everywhere in Judea, and now he has come here and he is still making trouble.”

6 When Pilate heard that, he asked, “Is this man a Galilean?” and they said he was. 7 So Pilate quickly sent Jesus to Herod, because Herod was the ruler of the people of Galilee. Herod was also in Jerusalem at that time.

8 Some soldiers took Jesus to Herod, and Herod was very pleased to see him. He had been wanting to see him for a long time, because he had heard a lot of stories about him. He was hoping to see Jesus do something powerful. 9 So Herod asked Jesus a lot of questions but Jesus didn't answer him.

10 The chief priests and the teachers of Moses' law were standing there and they said, “He is a bad man. He is very wicked!” And they kept on blaming Jesus with strong words.

11 Then Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and laughed at him. And Herod told his men to put some beautiful clothes on Jesus and then they took him back to Pilate. 12 From that time the two rulers, Herod and Pilate, stopped hating each other and became friends.

13 Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the Jewish leaders and all the people. 14 He said to them, “You have brought this man to me because you said, ‘This man is very bad and he has been teaching the people bad things.’ And you have heard me question him. But I haven't found any of the bad things you were blaming him for. 15 Also, Herod couldn't find anything wrong and he sent him back here to us. I am sure he has done nothing wrong and so I cannot kill him. 16 I will tell my soldiers to beat him and let him go free.”

17 (At the time of the Passover ceremony Pilate had to let one prisoner go free, because the ruler of Judea did that every Passover.)

18 But all the people called out, “Kill this man for us and let Barabbas go free.” 19 Some time before this, Barabbas and many other Jewish people had fought against the Roman people in Jerusalem. Barabbas had killed a man and he had been put in jail for it, and he was the one the people wanted, and not Jesus.

20 Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go free, so he called out to the crowd again. 21 But they shouted back, “Kill him on a cross! Kill him!”

22 Again Pilate said to them, “Tell me, why? What wrong has this man done? I cannot find anything wrong, so I cannot kill him. I will tell my soldiers to beat him and let him go free.”

23-24 But they kept on and on saying the same things about Jesus. They kept on shouting until at last Pilate agreed, because they kept asking him and shouting at him. So Pilate said, “This man will die!”

25 Then Pilate set free the man they wanted, the one who was in jail for fighting and murder. And he gave Jesus to his soldiers so that they could do what the Jewish people wanted, and kill Jesus.

26 The soldiers took Jesus away to nail him on a cross. And Jesus was carrying the cross himself. As they were going along they met a man called Simon who belonged to a place called Cyrene. He was coming into Jerusalem and the soldiers grabbed him and put the cross on his back and told him to carry it for Jesus. And Jesus went ahead and Simon followed.

27 A big crowd of people came behind them, and some women were crying and wailing. 28 Jesus turned and spoke to them. “Women of Jerusalem,” he said. “Don't cry for me, but cry for yourselves and for your children. 29 Soon people will say, ‘Women who have never had babies will be happy!’

30 “At that time people will say, ‘Let the mountains fall on us and let the hills hide us, so we won't live any longer here.’ 31 Look, you can see the terrible things the leaders are doing to me today, even though I am a good man. If they do all this now to me, a good person, later on they will do terrible things to those who are really bad.”

32 The soldiers were also taking two bad men to kill them with Jesus. 33 They kept on going until they reached the place called “The Place of the Skull.” There they nailed Jesus to his cross and they also nailed the two bad men to their crosses, one on the right and one on the left with Jesus in the middle.

34 Then Jesus prayed. “Father,” he said, “forgive them for doing this, because they don't know what they have done.”

The soldiers played a game to see who would get Jesus' clothes and then they shared them.

35 The people stood there watching Jesus. The Jewish leaders laughed at him. They said, “He saved other people, so let him come down to the ground by himself. He came from God, didn't he? And God chose him to be his Messiah, didn't he? Then let him come down and not die!”

36 The soldiers also laughed at Jesus. They brought him some sour-tasting wine to drink 37 and said, “You are the king of the Jewish people, are you! Then come down from there straight away so you won't die!”

38 Before this the soldiers had put some writing at the top of the cross. The words said, “This is the king of the Jewish people.”

39 One of the men hanging on the cross near Jesus teased him and said, “You are God's Messiah, are you! Get down to the ground and save us too!”

40 But the other one said to him, “Be quiet! Why aren't you ashamed that God has heard you? We are going to die because the leaders have blamed all three of us. 41 They are putting both of us to death because we have done wrong, but this man hasn't done anything wrong.” 42 Then he said to Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you become King.”

43 Jesus said to him, “I promise you that this very day you and I will meet in God's beautiful place.”

44 The sun had climbed high up in the sky and it was midday, but darkness hid the sun and it stopped shining. It was like night. It stayed dark until the middle of the afternoon. 45 Then in Jerusalem, inside the temple building, the curtain that hung down and covered the opening of the holy place was torn down the middle.

46 Then Jesus called out in a loud voice and said, “Father, I am giving my spirit to you now.” And he died.

47 When the officer in charge of the soldiers saw what happened, he praised God, saying, “I know this was a good man!”

48 Many people who had gathered there to see Jesus went home after they saw all that had happened. They were beating their chests as they went because they were so upset. 49 But Jesus' friends still stood there, away from the cross, watching him. Some of them were women who had come with Jesus from Galilee. They were all standing away from the cross watching him.

50-51 There was a man called Joseph who was a good, honest person. He was a leader of the Jewish people and came from a place called Arimathea. He did not want Jesus to die and he was waiting for God to rule. Although other leaders wanted to kill Jesus, he didn't. 52 He went to Pilate and asked him if he could take Jesus' body. Pilate agreed and Joseph went back to where Jesus was. 53 He took his body down and wrapped it up in a cloth and took it away to a new cave. It had been dug out of the rock, but it had never been used. 54 That day was Friday and it was almost the Sabbath day, because the sun was ready to go down.

55 The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem went with Joseph to the cave. So they saw the cave and the place where he put Jesus' body inside it. 56 They went home and got the sweet-smelling oil and powder ready for putting on Jesus' body later. Then they followed God's law and rested on the Sabbath day.