< Matthew 27 >
1 When it was morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people have consulted against Jesus, how they might procure his death,
2 conducted him bound to Pontius Pilate, the procurator, to whom they delivered him up.
3 Then Judas, who had betrayed him, finding that he was condemned, repented; and returning the thirty shekels to the chief priests and the elders,
4 said, I have sinner, in that I have betrayed the innocent. They answered, What is that to us? See you to that.
5 After which, having thrown down the money in the temple, he went away, and strangled himself.
6 The chief priests taking the money, said, It is not lawful to put it into the sacred treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 But, after deliberating, they bought with it the potter's field, to be a burying place for strangers,
8 for which reason that field is, to this day, called, The Field of Blood.
9 Then was the word of Jeremiah the Prophet verified, "The thirty shekels, the price at which he was valued, I took, as the Lord appointed me, from the sons of Israel,
10 who gave them for the potter's field.
11 Now Jesus appeared before the procurator, who questioned him, saying, You are the King of the Jews? He answered, You say right.
12 But when he was arraigned by the chief priests and the elders, he made no reply.
13 Then Pilate said to him, Do you not hear of how many crimes they accuse you?
14 But he answered not one word, which surprised the procurator exceedingly.
15 Now the procurator was accustomed to release, at the festival, any one of the prisoners whom the multitude demanded.
16 And they had then a famous prisoners named Barabbas.
17 Therefore. when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, Whom shall I release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Messiah?
18 (For he perceived that through envy they had delivered him up;
19 besides, while he was sitting on the tribunal, his wife sent him this message, Have nothing to do with this innocent person; for today, I have suffered much in a dream, on his account.)
20 But the chief priests and elders instigated the populace to demand Barabbas, and cause Jesus to be executed.
21 Therefore, when the procurator asked, which of the two he should release, they all answered, Barabbas.
22 Pilate replied, What then shall I do with Jesus, whom they call Messiah? They all answered, Let him be crucified.
23 The procurator said, Why? What evil has he done? But they cried the louder, saying, Let him be crucified.
24 Pilate perceiving that he was so far from prevailing, that they grew more tumultuous, took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am guiltless of the blood of this innocent person. See you to it.
25 And all the people answering, said, His blood be upon us, and upon your children.
26 Then he released Barabbas to them, and having caused Jesus to be scourged, delivered him up to be crucified.
27 After this, the procurator's soldiers took Jesus into the pretorium, where they gathered around him all the band.
28 And having stripped him, they robed him in a scarlet cloak,
29 and crowned him with a wreath of thorns, and put a rod in his right hand, and kneeling before him in mockery. cried, Hail, King of the Jews!
30 And spitting upon him, they took the rod and struck him with it on the head.
31 When they had mocked him, they disrobed him again, and having put his own raiment on him, led him away to crucify him.
32 As they went out of the city, they met one Simon, a Cyrenian, whom they constrained to carry the cross;
33 and being arrived at a place called Golgotha, which signifies a Place of Skulls,
34 they gave him to drink, vinegar mixed with wormwood, which, having tasted, he would not drink.
35 After they had nailed him to the cross, they parted his garments by lot.
36 And having sat down there, they guarded him.
37 And over his head they placed this inscription, denoting the cause of his death: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Two robbers also were crucified with him, one at his right hand, and the other at his left.
39 Meanwhile the passengers reviled him, shaking their heads,
40 and saying, You who could demolish the temple, and rebuild it in three days; if you be God's Son, come down from the cross.
41 The chief priests also, with the scribes and elders, deriding him, said,
42 He saved others: can he not save himself? If he be King of Israel, let him now descend from the cross, and we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God. Let God deliver him now, if he regard him; for he called himself God's Son.
44 The robbers too, his fellow-sufferers, upbraided him in the same manner.
45 Now from the sixth hour to the ninth, the whole land was in darkness.
46 About the ninth hour, Jesus cried aloud, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47 Some of the bystanders hearing this, said, He calls Elijah.
48 Instantly one of them ran, brought a sponge, and soaked it in vinegar, and having fastened it to a stick, presented it to him to drink.
49 The rest said, Forbear, we shall see whether Elijah will come to save him.
50 Jesus having again cried with a loud voice, resigned his spirit.
51 And, behold, the vail of the temple was rent in two from top to bottom, the earth trembled, and the rocks split.
52 Graves also burst open; and after his resurrection, the bodies of several saints who slept were raised,
53 came out of the graves, went into the holy city, and were seen by many.
54 Now the centurion, and they who, with him, guarded Jesus, observing the earthquake, and what passed, were exceedingly terrified, and said, This was certainly the son of a god.
55 Several women also were there, looking on at a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, assisting him with their service.
56 Among them were Mary the Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
57 In the evening a rich Arimathean named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus,
58 went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. Pilate having given orders to deliver it to Joseph,
59 he took the body, wrapped it in clean linen,
60 and deposited it in his own tomb, which he had newly caused to be hewn in the rock; and having rolled a great stone to the entrance, he went away.
61 Now Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary were there, sitting over against the sepulcher.
62 On the morrow, being the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees repaired in a body to Pilate,
63 and said, My lord, we remember that this impostor, when alive, said, Within three days I shall be raised.
64 Command, therefore, that the sepulcher be guarded till the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him, and say to the people, He is raised from the dead; for this last imposture would prove worse than the first.
65 Pilate answered, You have a guard; make the sepulcher as secure as you can.
66 Accordingly they went and secured it, sealing the stone, and posting guards.
