Part 26 (1/2)

(24)Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. (25)And Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him: Art thou also one of his disciples? He denied, and said: I am not.

(26)One of the servants of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, says: Did not I see thee in the garden with him? (27)Again therefore Peter denied; and immediately a c.o.c.k crowed.

(28)Then they lead Jesus from Caiaphas into the Governor's palace; and it was early; and they themselves went not into the palace, that they might not be defiled, but might eat the pa.s.sover. (29)Pilate therefore went out to them, and said: What accusation do ye bring against this man? (30)They answered and said to him: If this man were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up to thee. (31)Pilate therefore said to them: Do ye take him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said to him: It is not lawful for us to put any one to death; (32)that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spoke, signifying by what manner of death he should die.

(33)Pilate therefore entered into the palace again, and called Jesus, and said to him: Art thou the King of the Jews? (34)Jesus answered: Dost thou say this of thyself, or did others tell thee concerning me?

(35)Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Thine own nation, and the chief priests, delivered thee up to me. What didst thou? (36)Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence. (37)Pilate therefore said to him: Art thou a king then? Jesus answered: Thou sayest it; because I am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end have I come into the world, that I may bear witness to the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.

(38)Pilate says to him: What is truth? And having said this, he went out again to the Jews, and says to them: I find no fault in him.

(39)But ye have a custom, that I should release to you one at the pa.s.sover. Do ye desire therefore that I release to you the King of the Jews? (40)They all therefore cried out again, saying: Not this one, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

XIX.

THEN therefore Pilate took Jesus, and scourged him. (2)And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and put on him a purple robe; and they came to him, (3)and said: Hail, King of the Jews! And they gave him blows on the face.

(4)Pilate went forth again, and says to them: Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him. (5)Jesus therefore came forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And he says to them: Behold the man!

(6)When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying: Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate says to them: Do ye take him, and crucify him; for I find no fault in him. (7)The Jews answered him: We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of G.o.d.

(8)When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was the more afraid.

(9)And he went again into the palace, and says to Jesus: Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. (10)Then says Pilate to him: Dost thou not speak to me? Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee? (11)Jesus answered: Thou wouldst have no power against me, except it were given thee from above.

Therefore he that delivers me to thee has the greater sin.

(12)Thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying: If thou let this man go, thou art not a friend of Caesar.

Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar.

(13)When therefore Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down on the judgment-seat in a place called the Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha. (14)And it was the preparation of the pa.s.sover, and about the sixth hour. And he says to the Jews: Behold your king!

(15)But they cried out: Away with him, away with him, crucify him.

Pilate says to them: Shall I crucify your king? The chief priests answered: We have no king but Caesar. (16)Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

(17)And bearing his cross he went forth into the place called Place of a skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha; (18)where they crucified him, and two others with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. (19)And Pilate wrote also a t.i.tle, and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS THE NAZARENE THE KING OF THE JEWS.

(20)This t.i.tle therefore many of the Jews read; because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. (21)Therefore said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. (22)Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.

(23)Then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part, and also his coat. And the coat was without a seam, woven from the top throughout. (24)They said therefore to one another: Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled which says:

They parted my garments among them.

And for my vesture they cast lots.

These things the soldiers did. (25)And there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary the Magdalene. (26)Jesus therefore seeing his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, says to his mother: Woman, behold thy son! (27)Then he says to the disciple: Behold thy mother!

And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

(28)After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now finished, that the scripture might be accomplished, says: I thirst. (29)Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar; and they, having filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it on a hyssop-stalk, bore it to his mouth. (30)When Jesus therefore received the vinegar, he said: It is finished; and he bowed his head, and gave up his spirit.

(31)The Jews therefore, since it was the preparation, that the bodies might not remain upon the cross on the sabbath (for that sabbath day was a great day), besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and they be taken away. (32)The soldiers came, therefore, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him.