< Matthew 27 >
1 And when it was morning, the chief priests and the elders of the people held a council against Jesus, how they might put him to death.
2 And they bound him, and carried him and delivered him up to Pilate, the president.
3 Then Judas the betrayer, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, repented. And he went and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders;
4 and said: I have sinned, by betraying innocent blood. And they said: What is that to us? See to it thyself.
5 And he cast down the silver in the temple, and retiring, went and strangled himself
6 And the chief priests took up the silver, and said: It is not lawful to put it into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 And they took counsel, and bought with it the potter's field, for a place to bury strangers.
8 Wherefore that field is called the field of blood, unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet, saying: I took the thirty shekels of silver, the price of the precious one, which they of the children of Israel had stipulated;
10 and I gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.
11 And Jesus stood before the president. And the resident asked him, and said to him: Art thou the king of the Jews? And Jesus said to him: Thou hast said.
12 And when the chief priests and elders accused him, he made no reply.
13 Then Pilate said to him: Hearest thou not how much they testify against thee?
14 But he gave him no answer, not even one word: and therefore Pilate wondered greatly.
15 And at each festival, the president was accustomed to release to the people one prisoner, such as they preferred.
16 And they had then in bonds a noted prisoner, called Bar Abas.
17 And when they were assembled, Pilate said to them: Whom will ye, that I release to you, Bar Abas, or Jesus who is called Messiah?
18 For Pilate knew that it was from enmity they had delivered him up.
19 And as the president was sitting on his tribunal, his wife sent to him, and said: Have thou nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered much this I day in a dream because of him.
20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should demand Bar Abas, and destroy Jesus.
21 And the president answered, and said to them: Which of the two, will ye, that I release to you? And they said: Bar Abas.
22 Pilate said to them: And what shall I do to Jesus who is called Messiah? They all replied: Let him be crucified.
23 The president said to them: But what hath he done, that is evil? And they cried out the more, and said: Let him be crucified.
24 And Pilate, when he saw that it availed nothing, but rather that tumult was produced, took water, and washed his hands before the eyes of the multitude, and said: I am pure from the blood of this just man: see ye to it.
25 And all the people answered, and said His blood be on us, and on our children!
26 Then released he to them Bar Abas; and scourged Jesus with whips and delivered him to be crucified.
27 Then the soldiers of the president took Jesus into the Praetorium, and assembled the whole regiment against him.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet military cloak.
29 And they wove a crown of thorns, and set it on his head, and put a reed in his hand, and they bowed their knees before him, and mocked him, and said: Hail, thou king of the Jews.
30 And they spit in his face, and took the reed, and smote him on his head.
31 And when they had mocked him, they divested him of the cloak, and clothed him in his own garments, and led him out to be crucified.
32 And as they went out, they found a man of Cyrene whose name was Simon; him they compelled to bear his cross.
33 And they came to a place which is called Golgotha, which is interpreted a skull.
34 And they gave him to drink vinegar mixed with gall. And he tasted it, and would not drink.
35 And when they had crucified him, they distributed his garments by lot.
36 And they sat down, and watched him there
37 And they placed over his head the cause of his death, in the writing: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 And there were crucified with him two robbers, the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
39 And they that passed by reviled him, and shook their heads
40 and said: Destroyer of the temple, and builder of it in three days, deliver thyself; if thou art the Son of God, and come down from the cross.
41 So also the chief priests mocked, with the Scribes and Elders and Pharisees,
42 and said: He gave life to others, his own life he cannot preserve. If he is the king of Israel, let him now descend from the cross, and we will believe in him. †
43 He trusted in God; let him rescue him now, if he hath pleasure in him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 In like manner the marauders also, that were crucified with him, reproached him.
45 And from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land, until the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice and said: O God, O God; why hast thou forsaken me?
47 And some of them that stood there, when they heard it, said: He calleth for Elijah.
48 And immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
49 But the rest said: Desist; we will see if Elijah will come to rescue him.
50 Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
51 And instantly, the curtain of the door of the temple was torn asunder, from the top to the bottom; and the earth shook; and the rocks rived;
52 and graves were opened; and many bodies of saints who slept, arose,
53 and came forth; and, after his resurrection, entered into the holy city, and appeared to many.
54 And the centurion, and they that were with him guarding Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that occurred, feared greatly, and said: Verily, this was the Son of God.
55 And many women were there, looking on from a distance; the same who had followed Jesus from Galilee, and had ministered to him.
56 One of them was Mary of Magdala, also Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
57 And when it was evening, there came a rich man of Ramath, whose name was a Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.
58 This man went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And Pilate directed the body to be given him.
59 And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a winding-sheet of clean linen;
60 and laid it in his new sepulchre, that was excavated in a rock. And he rolled a great stone against the door of the sepulchre, and departed:
61 And there were present Mary of Magdala, and the other Mary, who sat over against the grave.
62 And on the day that was next after the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate,
63 and said to him: Our Lord, we remember that this deceiver said, while he was alive, After three days, I shall arise.
64 Command, therefore to guard the sepulchre; until the third day; lest his disciples come and steal him away by night, and say to the people that he hath risen from the dead; and the last delusion be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said to them: Ye have soldiers: go and guard it, as ye know how.
66 And they went and set a guard to the sepulchre, and sealed the stone.
