² Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Yes, that is right.”

³ The leading priests accused Jesus of many things. ⁴ So Pilate asked Jesus another question. He said, “You can see that these people are accusing you of many things. Why don’t you answer?”

⁵ But Jesus still did not answer, and this really surprised Pilate.

³ Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Yes, what you say is true.”

⁴ Pilate said to the leading priests and the people, “I find nothing wrong with this man.”

⁵ But they kept on saying, “His teaching is causing trouble all over Judea. He began in Galilee, and now he is here!”

³³ Then Pilate went back inside the palace. He called for Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ Jesus said, “Is that your own question, or did other people tell you about me?”

³⁵ Pilate said, “I’m not a Jew! It was your own people and their leading priests who brought you before me. What have you done wrong?”

³⁶ Jesus said, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jewish leaders. No, my kingdom is not an earthly one.”

³⁷ Pilate said, “So you are a king.”

Jesus answered, “You are right to say that I am a king. I was born for this: to tell people about the truth. That is why I came into the world. And everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.”

³⁸ Pilate said, “What is truth?” Then he went out to the Jewish leaders again and said to them, “I can find nothing against this man.