John

The Gospel according to Saint John, chapter 19, New English Translation and King James Version

Chapter 19 New English Translation

Pilate Tries to Release Jesus

   1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged severely. 2 The soldiers braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe. 3 They came up to him again and again and said, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him repeatedly in the face.
   4 Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him." 5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Look, here is the man!" 6 When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said, "You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!" 7 The Jewish leaders replied, "We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!"
   8 When Pilate heard what they said, he was more afraid than ever, 9 and he went back into the governor's residence and said to Jesus, "Where do you come from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. 10 So Pilate said, "Do you refuse to speak to me? Don't you know I have the authority to release you, and to crucify you?" 11 Jesus replied, "You would have no authority over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of greater sin."
   12 From this point on, Pilate tried to release him. But the Jewish leaders shouted out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar! Everyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar!" 13 When Pilate heard these words he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in the place called "The Stone Pavement" (Gabbatha in Aramaic). 14 (Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon. ) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, here is your king!"
   15 Then they shouted out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your king?" The high priests replied, "We have no king except Caesar!"

The Crucifixion

   16 Then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, 17 and carrying his own cross he went out to the place called "The Place of the Skull" (called in Aramaic Golgotha). 18 There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate also had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read: "Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews." 20 Thus many of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek. 21 Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The king of the Jews, ' but rather, 'This man said, I am king of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."
   23 Now when the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and made four shares, one for each soldier, and the tunic remained. (Now the tunic was seamless, woven from top to bottom as a single piece. ) 24 So the soldiers said to one another, "Let's not tear it, but throw dice to see who will get it." This took place to fulfill the scripture that says, "They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they threw dice." So the soldiers did these things.
   25 Now standing beside Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there, he said to his mother, "Woman, look, here is your son!" 27 He then said to his disciple, "Look, here is your mother!" From that very time the disciple took her into his own home.

Jesus' Death

   28 After this Jesus, realizing that by this time everything was completed, said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty!" 29 A jar full of sour wine was there, so they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a branch of hyssop and lifted it to his mouth. 30 When he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, "It is completed!" Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
   31 Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the victims' legs broken and the bodies taken down. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus, first the one and then the other. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately. 35 And the person who saw it has testified (and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth), so that you also may believe. 36 For these things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled, "Not a bone of his will be broken." 37 And again another scripture says, "They will look on the one whom they have pierced."

Jesus' Burial

   38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he went and took the body away. 39 Nicodemus, the man who had previously come to Jesus at night, accompanied Joseph, carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about seventy-five pounds. 40 Then they took Jesus' body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial customs. 41 Now at the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a new tomb where no one had yet been buried. 42 And so, because it was the Jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus' body there.

King James Version

   1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.
   2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,
   3 And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
   4 Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.
   5 Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!
   6 When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.
   7 The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
   8 ¶ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;
   9 And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
   10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
   11 Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
   12 And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
   13 ¶ When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.
   14 And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!
   15 But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
   16 Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.
   17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
   18 Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.
   19 ¶ And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.
   20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
   21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
   22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
   23 ¶ Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
   24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
   25 ¶ Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
   26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
   27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
   28 ¶ After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
   29 Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
   30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
   31 The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
   32 Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.
   33 But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:
   34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
   35 And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.
   36 For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
   37 And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.
   38 ¶ And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.
   39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.
   40 Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
   41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.
   42 There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.