²⁰ But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.^(A)

²¹ “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor.

“Barabbas,” they answered.

²² “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?”^(B) Pilate asked.

They all answered, “Crucify him!”

²³ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

²⁴ When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar^(C) was starting, he took water and washed his hands^(D) in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,”^(E) he said. “It is your responsibility!”^(F)

²⁵ All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!”^(G)

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged,^(H) and handed him over to be crucified.

⁶ Now it was the custom at the festival to release a prisoner whom the people requested. ⁷ A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising.

¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas^(A) instead.

¹² “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.

¹³ “Crucify him!” they shouted.

¹⁴ “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged,^(B) and handed him over to be crucified.

³⁸ “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.^{(A) 39} But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”

⁴⁰ They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.^(B)

¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation^(A) of the Passover; it was about noon.^(B)

“Here is your king,”^(C) Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶ Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.^(D)

The Crucifixion of Jesus^(E)

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.

¹³ The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,^(A) the God of our fathers,^(B) has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over^(C) to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate,^(D) though he had decided to let him go.^{(E) 14} You disowned the Holy^(F) and Righteous One^(G) and asked that a murderer be released to you.^(H)