Mark 15

Contemporary English Version

Pilate Questions Jesus

(Matthew 27.1,2,11-14; Luke 23.1-5; John 18.28-38)

15 Early the next morning the chief priests, the nation's leaders, and the teachers of the Law of Moses met together with the whole Jewish council. They tied up Jesus and led him off to Pilate.

²He asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“Those are your words,” Jesus answered.

³The chief priests brought many charges against Jesus. ⁴Then Pilate questioned him again, “Don't you have anything to say? Don't you hear what crimes they say you have done?” ⁵But Jesus did not answer, and Pilate was amazed.

The Death Sentence

(Matthew 27.15-26; Luke 23.13-25; John 18.39—19.16)

⁶During Passover, Pilate always freed one prisoner chosen by the people. ⁷And at that time there was a prisoner named Barabbas. He and some others had been arrested for murder during a riot. ⁸The crowd now came and asked Pilate to set a prisoner free, just as he usually did.

⁹Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰Pilate knew that the chief priests had brought Jesus to him because they were jealous.

¹¹But the chief priests told the crowd to ask Pilate to free Barabbas.

¹²Then Pilate asked the crowd, “What do you want me to do with this man you say is^[a] the king of the Jews?”

¹³They yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”

¹⁴Pilate asked, “But what crime has he done?”

“Nail him to a cross!” they yelled even louder.

¹⁵Pilate wanted to please the crowd, so he set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.

Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus

(Matthew 27.27-30; John 19.2,3)

¹⁶The soldiers led Jesus inside the courtyard of the fortress^[b] and called together the rest of the troops. ¹⁷They put a purple robe^[c] on him, and on his head they placed a crown they had made out of thorn branches. ¹⁸They made fun of Jesus and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!” ¹⁹Then they beat him on the head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt down and pretended to worship him.

²⁰When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross. ²¹^(A) Simon from Cyrene happened to be coming in from a farm, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross. Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.

Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross

(Matthew 27.31-44; Luke 23.27-43; John 19.17-27)

²²The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull.”^[d] ²³There they gave him some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain, but he refused to drink it.

²⁴^(B) They nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes. ²⁵It was about nine o'clock in the morning when they nailed him to the cross. ²⁶On it was a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is the King of the Jews.” ^27-28^(C) The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.^[e]

²⁹^(D) People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and shouted, “Ha! So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days. ³⁰Save yourself and come down from the cross!”

³¹The chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses also made fun of Jesus. They said to each other, “He saved others, but he can't save himself. ³²If he is the Messiah, the king of Israel, let him come down from the cross! Then we will see and believe.” The two criminals also said cruel things to Jesus.

The Death of Jesus

(Matthew 27.45-56; Luke 23.44-49; John 19.28-30)

³³About noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until around three o'clock. ³⁴^(E) Then about that time Jesus shouted, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”^[f] which means, “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?”

³⁵Some of the people standing there heard Jesus and said, “He is calling for Elijah.”^[g] ³⁶^(F) One of them ran and grabbed a sponge. After he had soaked it in wine, he put it on a stick and held it up to Jesus. He said, “Let's wait and see if Elijah will come^[h] and take him down!” ³⁷Jesus shouted and then died.

³⁸^(G) At once the curtain in the temple^[i] tore in two from top to bottom.

³⁹A Roman army officer was standing in front of Jesus. When the officer saw how Jesus died, he said, “This man really was the Son of God!”

^40-41^(H) Some women were looking on from a distance. They and many others had come with Jesus to Jerusalem. But even before this they had been his followers and had helped him while he was in Galilee. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joseph were two of these women. Salome was also one of them.

Jesus Is Buried

(Matthew 27.57-61; Luke 23.50-56; John 19.38-42)

⁴²It was now the evening before the Sabbath, and the Jewish people were getting ready for that sacred day. ⁴³A man named Joseph from Arimathea was brave enough to ask Pilate for the body of Jesus. Joseph was a highly respected member of the Jewish council, and he was also waiting for God's kingdom to come.

⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, and he called in the army officer to find out if Jesus had been dead very long. ⁴⁵After the officer told him, Pilate let Joseph have Jesus' body.

⁴⁶Joseph bought a linen cloth and took the body down from the cross. He had it wrapped in the cloth, and he put it in a tomb that had been cut into solid rock. Then he rolled a big stone against the entrance to the tomb.

⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph were watching and saw where the body was placed.

Footnotes

15.12 this man you say is: These words are not in some manuscripts.
15.16 fortress: The place where the Roman governor stayed. It was probably at Herod's palace west of Jerusalem, though it may have been Fortress Antonia, north of the temple, where the Roman troops were stationed.
15.17 purple robe: This was probably a Roman soldier's robe.
15.22 Place of a Skull: The place was probably given this name because it was near a large rock in the shape of a human skull.
15.27-28 left: Some manuscripts add, “So the Scriptures came true which say, ‘He was accused of being a criminal.’ ”
15.34 Eloi … sabachthani: These words are in Aramaic, a language spoken in Palestine during the time of Jesus.
15.35 Elijah: The name “Elijah” sounds something like “Eloi,” which means “my God.”
15.36 see if Elijah will come: See the note at 6.15.
15.38 curtain in the temple: There were two curtains in the temple. One was at the entrance, and the other separated the holy place from the most holy place that the Jewish people thought of as God's home on earth. The second curtain is probably the one which is meant.