Luke 23

1Then the entire body of them got up and took him to Pilate.

2They started bringing charges against him: “We found this man leading our nation astray, telling people not to pay taxes to Caesar, and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

3So Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”

4Pilate then told the chief priests and the crowds, “I can find no grounds to charge this man.”

5But they pressed their case: “He is stirring up the people with his teaching throughout the whole of Judea, beginning in Galilee and reaching even this place.”

6Hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was from Galilee.

7Once he found out that Jesus fell under Herod’s authority, he sent him on to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem during those days.

8Herod was delighted when he saw Jesus, for he had been eager to see him for quite a while because of what he had heard about him, and he hoped to watch him do some sign.

9He put many questions to him, but Jesus did not answer him at all.

10Meanwhile the chief priests and the scribes stood there hurling fierce accusations at him.

11Herod and his troops scorned him and made fun of him, and after putting a gorgeous robe on him, Herod sent him back to Pilate.

12Herod and Pilate became friends with one another on that very day, for until then there had been hostility between them.

13Pilate summoned the chief priests, the leaders, and the people,

14and told them, “You presented this man to me as someone who was leading the people astray. But look, I have questioned him in front of you and have found no grounds in him for any of your accusations against him.

15Herod did not find any either, since he sent him back to us. See, this man has not done anything that calls for death.

16So I will have him flogged and release him.”

17[Now he was obliged to release one prisoner to them at the festival.]

18But the whole mass of them yelled out together, “Take this man away! Release Barabbas to us!”

19He was a man who had been put in prison because of a revolt that had broken out in the city, and because of murder.

20Pilate called out to them again, since he wished to set Jesus free,

21but they kept yelling back, “Crucify, crucify him!”

22He spoke to them a third time: “Why, what wrong has this man done? I have found no grounds in him for putting him to death. So I will have him flogged and release him.”

23But they kept up the pressure with loud cries, insisting that he be crucified, and their shouting carried the day.

24So Pilate ruled that what they asked for should be done.

25He released the man they were asking for, the one who had been put in prison for revolt and murder, but he handed Jesus over to what they wanted.

26While they were taking him away, they grabbed a certain Simon, a man from Cyrene who was on his way in from the countryside, and loaded the cross onto him to carry behind Jesus.

27A huge crowd of people was following him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and grieving aloud for him.

28Jesus turned toward them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping over me. Instead, weep over yourselves and over your children.

29For look, days are coming when people will say, ‘How blessed are the women who could not have children, the wombs that never gave birth, and the breasts that never fed a baby!’

30Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’

31For if they treat the green wood this way, what will become of the dry?”

32Along with him, two others who were criminals were also being taken out to be executed.

33When they reached the spot known as the Skull, they crucified him there, and the criminals too, one at his right hand and the other at his left.

34Jesus kept saying, “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots for them.

35The people stood looking on, and the leaders were even jeering at him: “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this fellow is the Messiah of God, the Chosen One!”

36The soldiers made fun of him too; they came up and held out sour wine to him

37and said, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself.”

38Above him was a written notice as well: “This is the King of the Jews.”

39One of the criminals hanging there kept reviling him: “You are the Messiah, are you not? Then save yourself and us!”

40But the other one spoke up and scolded him: “Have you no fear of God at all, when you have received the same sentence?

41In our case it is just, since we are receiving what we deserve for what we did; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

43Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

44By now it was about the sixth hour, and darkness spread across the entire land until the ninth hour,

45as the sun stopped shining. Then the temple curtain was split down the middle.

46Crying out with a loud voice, Jesus said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” After he said this, he breathed his last.

47Seeing what had taken place, the centurion gave glory to God and said, “This man truly was righteous.”

48When all the crowds who had come out to see this sight observed what took place, they turned for home, striking their breasts.

49Everyone who knew him stood far off, and the women who had followed him from Galilee were there too, looking on at these things.

50Now a man named Joseph was a member of the council; he was good and righteous.

51He had not gone along with their decision or what they did. He came from Arimathea, a town of the Jews, and he was looking forward to the kingdom of God.

52He approached Pilate and requested the body of Jesus.

53After taking it down, he wrapped it in a linen sheet and placed him in a tomb carved out of rock, in which no one had been put to rest yet.

54That day was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was about to start.

55The women who had traveled with him from Galilee followed along, and they took note of the tomb and how his body had been laid in it.

56Then they went home and got spices and perfumed oils ready. On the Sabbath they rested in obedience to the commandment.