Mark 15

International Standard Version

Jesus is Taken to Pilate^(A)

15 As soon as it was morning, the high priests convened a meeting with the elders and scribes and the whole Council.^[a] They bound Jesus with chains, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ² Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus^[b] answered him, “You say so.”

³ The high priests kept accusing him of many things. ⁴ So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!” ⁵ But since Jesus no longer answered, Pilate was astonished.

Jesus is Sentenced to Death^(B)

⁶ At every festival,^[c] Pilate^[d] would release any one prisoner whom the people^[e] requested. ⁷ Now there was a man in prison named Barabbas. He had been with the insurgents who had committed murder during the rebellion. ⁸ So the crowd came and began to request that Pilate^[f] do for them what he always did.^{[g] 9} Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” ¹⁰ because he knew that the high priests had handed him over due to jealousy.

¹¹ But the high priests stirred up the crowd to get him to release Barabbas for them instead. ¹² So Pilate asked them again, “Then what should I do with the man you call^[h] ‘the King of the Jews’?”

¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted back.

¹⁴ “Why?” Pilate asked them. “What has he done wrong?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus^(C)

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus^[i] into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor’s headquarters)^[j] and called out the whole guard. ¹⁷ They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted some thorns into a victor’s crown, and placed it on his head.^{[k] 18} They began to greet him, “Long live the king of the Jews!” ¹⁹ They kept hitting him on the head with a stick, spitting on him, kneeling in front of him, and worshiping him. ²⁰ When they had finished making fun of him, they stripped him of the purple robe, put his own clothes back on him, and led him away to crucify him.

Jesus is Crucified^(D)

²¹ They forced a certain passer-by named^[l] Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, who happened to be coming in from the country, to carry Jesus’^[m] cross. ²² They took Jesus^[n] to a place called Golgotha, which means Skull Place. ²³ They tried to give him wine mixed with myrrh, but he wouldn’t accept it. ²⁴ Then they crucified him. They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice to see what each one would get. ²⁵ It was nine in the morning^[o] when they crucified him. ²⁶ The written notice of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” ²⁷ They crucified two bandits^[p] with him, one on his right and the other on his left.^{[q] 29} Those who passed by kept insulting^[r] him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who were going to destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days— ³⁰ save yourself and come down from the cross!”

³¹ In the same way, the high priests, along with the scribes, were also making fun of him among themselves. They kept saying, “He saved others, but can’t save himself! ³² Let the Messiah,^[s] the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, since seeing is believing!” Even the men who were crucified with him kept insulting him.

Jesus Dies on the Cross^(E)

³³ At noon,^[t] darkness came over the whole land^[u] until three in the afternoon.^{[v] 34} At three o’clock,^[w] Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, eloi,^[x] lema sabachthani?”^[y] (which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”)^[z]

³⁵ When some of the people standing there heard this, they said, “Listen! He’s calling for Elijah!”^[aa]

³⁶ So someone ran and soaked a sponge in some sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and offered Jesus^[ab] a drink, saying, “Wait! Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down!”

³⁷ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. ³⁸ The curtain^[ac] in the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. ³⁹ When the centurion^[ad] who stood facing Jesus^[ae] saw how he had cried out and^[af] breathed his last, he said, “This man certainly was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰ Now there were women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene,^[ag] Mary the mother of young James and Joseph, and Salome. ⁴¹ They used to accompany him and care for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there, too.

Jesus is Buried^(F)

⁴² It was the Day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath. Since it was already evening, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, a highly respected member of the Council,^[ah] who was waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Pilate was amazed to hear^[ai] that Jesus^[aj] had already died, so he summoned the centurion to ask him if he was in fact dead. ⁴⁵ When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he let Joseph have the corpse. ⁴⁶ Joseph^[ak] bought some linen cloth, took the body^[al] down, wrapped it in the cloth, laid it in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. ⁴⁷ Now Mary Magdalene^[am] and Mary the mother of Joseph observed where the body^[an] had been laid.