John 19

₁Pilate told the soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip. ₂The soldiers made a crown of thorn branches and they put it on Jesus' head. Then they put a purple_robe on Him. ₃They kept on going to Him and saying: ‘We greet You, King_of_the_Jews,’ and every time they hit Him. ₄Pilate went outside again. He said to the Jews: ‘I will let Jesus come outside to you. I want you to know that I think Jesus has done nothing wrong.’

₅Then Jesus came outside. The crown of thorns was still on his head and He had on the purple_robe. Pilate said to the Jews: ‘Look at this Man now.’

₆When the chief_priests and guards saw Jesus, they shouted to Pilate: ‘You must crucify Him. You must crucify Him.’ Pilate told them: ‘No, you take Him and crucify Him. I think He has done nothing wrong.’

₇The Jews said to Pilate: ‘We have laws and our laws say we must kill Jesus because He said He is the Son of God.’

₈When Pilate heard what the Jews said, he became even more afraid. ₉Pilate went into his house again and he said to Jesus: ‘You must tell me where You come from.’ But Jesus did not answer Pilate. ₁₀Then Pilate said to Jesus: ‘Why don't You talk to me? Don't You know that I can decide if You can go free or if the soldiers must crucify You?’

₁₁Jesus said to Pilate: ‘No, you can not decide that. It is God who has decided what must happen. That is why the people who brought Me to you have done a bigger sin than you have done.’

₁₂When Pilate heard what Jesus said, he tried to let Jesus go free, but the Jews shouted_loudly: ‘If you let Jesus go, then you are not Caesar's friend. Jesus said He is a King. That is why He is an enemy of Caesar.’

₁₃When Pilate heard what the Jews said, he took Jesus outside. Then Pilate went to the chair where he always judged and he sat on it. The name of the place was the Stone Pavement. (The Hebrew name of that place was Gabbata). ₁₄It was the day before Passover. On that day the Jews always prepared everything for Passover. It was about noon when Pilate said to the Jews: ‘Look, here is your King.’

₁₅They shouted_loudly: ‘You must take Jesus away. Take Him away. You must crucify Him.’

Pilate asked them: ‘Must I crucify Jesus, your King?’ The chief_priests said to Pilate: ‘Jesus is not our King. We have only one king and that is Caesar.’

₁₆Then Pilate said the chief_priests could take Jesus and crucify Him.

The soldiers took Jesus away to crucify Him. ₁₇Jesus carried his cross and they went out of the city to a place with the name of The Skull. (The Hebrew name of that place is Golgotha). ₁₈There the soldiers crucified Jesus. They also crucified 2 other men with Jesus, one on his left hand side and one on his right hand side. ₁₉Pilate said that they must write on a piece of flat wood and put it on top of the cross. They wrote: ‘Here hangs Jesus of Nazareth, the King_of_the_Jews.’

₂₀A lot of Jews read these words because the place where the soldiers had crucified Jesus was near the city. The words on the wood were written in the Hebrew language, in Latin and in Greek. ₂₁The Jewish chief_priests went to Pilate and said to him: ‘You must not write: “Jesus, King_of_the_Jews.” You must write: “Jesus said He is the King_of_the_Jews.” ’ ₂₂Pilate told them: ‘I wrote it and I will not change it.’

₂₃After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes. They divided his clothes into 4 parts, one part for each soldier. Jesus had a garment that was made of one piece_of_cloth. It did not have a seam. ₂₄The soldiers said to each other: ‘We must not tear this garment into smaller pieces. We must draw_lots to see who will get it.’

This happened because it is written in the Old_Testament:

This is what the soldiers did. ₂₅Jesus' mother was standing near his cross. Her sister was also there and Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ₂₆Jesus saw his mother standing there, and the disciple whom He loved very much. Jesus said to his mother: ‘This disciple is now your son.’

₂₇And Jesus said to the disciple: ‘This woman is now your mother.’

From that day this disciple took Jesus' mother to live in his home.

₂₈Jesus knew that He had done all the work on earth that God had sent Him to do. So He said: ‘I am thirsty.’ He said this because these words are written in the Old_Testament. ₂₉There was a jar full of vinegar wine. The soldiers put a sponge into the vinegar wine and they put it on a hyssop-branch and held it out in front of Jesus' mouth. ₃₀When Jesus tasted the wine, He said: ‘Now I have finished my work that I had to do.’

Jesus bowed his head forward and He died. ₃₁This was the day when the Jews prepared everything for the Sabbath day and this was a very important Sabbath day. The Jews did not want the bodies of Jesus and the 2 other men to hang on the crosses on the Sabbath day. So they asked Pilate to tell his soldiers to break their bones before the soldiers took the bodies down from the crosses. ₃₂The soldiers came and they broke the first man's bones. Then they broke the bones of the other man who was crucified with Jesus. ₃₃When the soldiers came to Jesus, they saw that He was dead, so they did not break his bones. ₃₄One of the soldiers took a spear and he pierced the side of Jesus' body with it. Immediately blood and water came out of his body. ₃₅The man who saw this happen told this to the other people and every word that he said is the truth. He knows that he speaks the truth so that you may believe. ₃₆All this happened because the Old_Testament said it would happen. It says:

₃₇At another place in the Old_Testament it is written:

₃₈Joseph, from the town of Arimathea, was a disciple of Jesus but he did not tell anyone because he was afraid of the Jewish_leaders. After Jesus had died, Joseph went to Pilate and asked him if he could take the body of Jesus. Pilate said he could take it. Then Joseph took Jesus' body from the cross. ₃₉Nicodemus, who had gone to talk to Jesus one night, also came to help. He brought a lot of myrrh and aloes that were mixed, about 100 litrai. ₄₀Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus covered Jesus' body with the myrrh and aloes and they put pieces_of_cloth around his body. (The Jews always did this before they buried someone). ₄₁There was a garden near the place where the soldiers had crucified Jesus. In the garden there was a new tomb. No one had ever been buried there. ₄₂Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took Jesus' body and they buried it in that tomb because it was near them and it was the day before the Sabbath day when the Jews prepared everything for that day.