AUV(i)
1 As soon as it was morning the leading priests, along with the [Jewish] elders and experts in the law of Moses and the entire Council, held a conference. Then they tied Jesus up, led Him away and turned Him over to Pilate [the Roman governor].
2 Pilate asked Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “You have said so.”
3 [Then] the leading priests accused Him of many things.
4 So, Pilate again asked Him, “Do you not have any answer? Look at how many charges they are bringing against you.”
5 But still Jesus gave no answer to anything, so that Pilate was amazed.
6 Now at the Passover Festival Pilate customarily released whatever prisoner the people asked him to.
7 One prisoner, named Barabbas, was kept chained up in prison along with men who had committed murder during a rebellion.
8 The crowd [then] went to Pilate and asked him to do what he was accustomed to doing for them [i.e., release a prisoner of their choosing during the Passover Festival].
9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews [i.e., Jesus]?”
10 For he perceived that the leading priests had turned Jesus over to him out of envy.
11 But the leading priests stirred up the crowd to insist that Pilate release Barabbas to them instead.
12 [So], Pilate again asked them, “Then what shall I do to this one you call the king of the Jews?”
13 And they shouted out again, “Crucify him ”
14 And Pilate said to them, “Why [should we]; what wrong has he done?” But they shouted out even louder, “Crucify him.”
15 So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and after he had Jesus flogged, he turned Him over to be crucified.
16 Then the soldiers led Jesus away to the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters, where they assembled the entire battalion.
17 They placed a purple robe on Him [Note: Matt. 27:28 calls this a “scarlet” robe. In that day, any color with a mixture of “red” in it was often called “purple”], and making a wreath out of thorns, they placed it on His head.
18 Then they began “greeting” Him with “Hey, king of the Jews ”
19 They beat His head with a stick, spat on Him, knelt down before Him and [mockingly] worshiped Him.
20 And when they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off of Him and put His own clothing [back] on Him. Then they led Him out to crucify Him.
21 They forced a passerby, named Simon of Cyrene [Note: This was a city in the northern African country of Libya], the father of Alexander and Rufus, who was coming in from the countryside, to go with them so he could carry Jesus’ cross [i.e., probably only the cross-beam portion].
22 Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha which, being interpreted, means “the place of the skull” [i.e., probably because it was a skull-shaped knoll in appearance].
23 They offered Him wine, mixed with aromatic spices, but He refused to accept it. [Note: Matt. 27:34 calls this “gall,” a bitter drug for the purpose of dulling the pain of crucifixion].
24 So, they crucified Him and divided His clothing by gambling for them to decide what each soldier would get.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning and they crucified Him. [Note: John 19:14 indicates that the crucifixion took place about noon. This can be harmonized if we take Mark’s account to mean when the entire process began].
26 The inscription, stating the charge against Him, was attached above His head [i.e., to the upright portion of the cross]. It read, “The king of the Jews.”
27 And they also crucified two thieves with Him, one at His right side and one at His left. {{Some ancient manuscripts add verse
28 “And the Scripture was fulfilled, which said, ‘He was counted with the lawbreakers.’”}}
29 And those who passed by the cross shouted abuse at Him and shook their heads [in derision], saying, “Ha, you who said you would destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days,
30 save yourself [from dying] and come down from the cross.”
31 In the same way, the leading priests also mocked Him among themselves, along with the experts in the law of Moses, saying, “He saved other people, now he cannot even save himself.
32 This ‘Christ, the king of Israel,’ let him now come down from the cross so we can see it and believe in him.” And the thieves who were being crucified with Him also spoke abusively to Him.
33 And when it became noon there was darkness over the entire land until three o’clock in the afternoon.
34 Then at three o’clock Jesus shouted in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama, sabachthani?” [Note: These words were in the commonly spoken Aramaic language], which being interpreted, means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
35 And when some of those standing there heard this, they said, “Look, he is calling for Elijah.”
36 Then one of the soldiers ran and filled a sponge full of sour wine, put it on a stick and gave it to Him to drink, saying, “Let him alone; let us see if Elijah comes to take him down [from the cross].”
37 Then Jesus spoke in a loud voice and gave up His spirit [to God. See Luke 23:46].
38 Then the Temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.
39 And when the military officer in charge of one hundred men, who was standing in front of Jesus, saw Him die like that, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.”
40 And there were also some women watching all this from a distance. Among them were Mary from Magdala; Mary the mother of the younger James and [his brother] Joseph [i.e., probably the wife of Clopas. See John 19:25]; and Salome [i.e., the mother of James and John and wife of Zebedee. See Matt. 27:56].
41 These women had ministered to Jesus’ needs when they followed Him from Galilee. Others watching were many women who had come up to Jerusalem with Him.
42 When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation [for the Passover Festival], being the day before the [special] Sabbath Day,
43 Joseph, from Arimathea, a highly respected member of the [Jewish] Council, who was expecting the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate [i.e., the Roman appointed governor] and asked [him] for the body of Jesus.
44 Pilate was amazed that Jesus had already died, and calling the military officer to him, asked how long He had been dead.
45 And when he found out from the military officer, he granted the body to Joseph.
46 [Joseph then] brought a linen cloth, and after taking Jesus down from the cross, wrapped the linen cloth around His body and placed it in a grave site that had been cut out of [a ledge of] rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the cave.
47 [Now] Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of Joseph [See verse 40] saw where the body was laid.