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

Jesus^[a] answered him, “You say so.”

³ The high priests kept accusing him of many things. ⁴ So Pilate asked him again, “Don’t you have any answer? Look how many accusations they’re bringing against you!” ⁵ But since Jesus no longer answered, Pilate was astonished.

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

He answered, “You say so.”

⁴ Then Pilate told the high priests and crowds, “I do not find anything chargeable in this man.”

⁵ But they kept insisting, “He is stirring up the people with what he teaches all over Judea, from where he started in Galilee to this place.”

³³ So Pilate went back into the governor’s headquarters,^[a] summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you asking this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵ Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? It is your own nation and high priests who have handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders.^[b] But for now my kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷ Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born for this, and I came into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is committed to the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸ Pilate asked him, “What is ‘truth’?” and then he went out to the Jewish leaders^[c] again and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against him.