John 19:1-20

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.

²Soldiers made a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and put a purple robe on him.

³Time and again they went up to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and slapped him.

⁴Pilate went outside once more and said to them, “I'm bringing him out here to you so you'll know I find him not guilty of any crime.”

⁵Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. “Look, here's the man,” said Pilate.

⁶When the chief priests and the guards saw Jesus, they shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” “You take him and crucify him,” Pilate answered. “I find him not guilty.”

⁷The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard this he was more afraid than ever,

⁹and he went back into the governor's palace. He asked Jesus, “Where do you come from?” But Jesus didn't respond.

¹⁰“Are you refusing to talk to me?” Pilate said to him. “Don't you realize that I have the power to have you released or to crucify you?”

¹¹“You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above,” Jesus answered. “Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin.”

¹²When Pilate heard this he tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you set this man free you're not Caesar's friend. Anyone who sets himself up as a king is rebelling against Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called Stone Pavement (Gabbatha in Hebrew).

¹⁴It was around noon on the preparation day before the Passover. “Look, here is your king,” he said to the Jews.

¹⁵“Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!” they screamed out. “Do you want me to crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “The only king we have is Caesar,” the chief priests replied.

¹⁶So he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

¹⁷They led Jesus away, who carried his own cross, and went out to the “Place of the Skull,” (Golgotha in Hebrew).

¹⁸They crucified him there, and two others with him: one on either side, with Jesus between them.

¹⁹Pilate had a notice made and placed on the cross which said, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰Many people read the notice because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.