The Crowd Rejects Jesus^(A)

⁶ At every Passover festival, Pilate would free one prisoner whom the people asked for. ⁷ There was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was with some rebels who had committed murder during a riot. ⁸ The crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he always did. ⁹ Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to free the king of the Jews for you?” ¹⁰ Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.

¹¹ The chief priests stirred up the crowd so that Pilate would free Barabbas for them instead.

¹² So Pilate again asked them, “Then what should I do with the king of the Jews?”

¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted back.

¹⁴ Pilate said to them, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Pilate wanted to satisfy the people, so he freed Barabbas for them. But he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

The Crowd Rejects Jesus^(A)

¹⁸ The whole crowd then shouted, “Take him away! Free Barabbas for us.” ¹⁹ (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for his involvement in a riot that had taken place in the city and for murder.)

²⁰ But because Pilate wanted to free Jesus, he spoke to the people again.

²¹ They began yelling, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² A third time Pilate spoke to them. He asked, “Why? What has he done wrong? I haven’t found this man deserving of the death penalty. So I’m going to have him whipped and set free.”

²³ But the crowd pressured Pilate. They shouted that Jesus had to be crucified, and they finally won. ²⁴ Pilate decided to give in to their demand. ²⁵ He freed Barabbas, who had been put in prison for rioting and murdering, because that’s what they wanted. But he let them do what they wanted to Jesus.

³⁹ You have a custom that I should free one person for you at Passover. Would you like me to free the king of the Jews for you?”

⁴⁰ The Jews shouted again, “Don’t free this man! Free Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a political revolutionary.)