Montgomery - Luke - 23

23:1  Then the whole company rose up and brought him to Pilate,

23:2  and began to accuse him. "We have found this fellow perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and proclaiming that he is the Messiah and King."

23:3  Then Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him saying, "Certainly I am."

23:4  And Pilate said to the chief priest and the crowd, "I find no harm in this man."

23:5  But they repeatedly insisted, "He is stirring up the people throughout all Judea with his teaching which started from Galilee."

23:6  When Pilate heard the word "Galilee" he asked if the man were a Galilean,

23:7  and when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction he sent him to Herod, who himself happened to be in Jerusalem during those days.

23:8  Now when Herod saw Jesus he was exceedingly glad. He had long been wanting to see him, because he had heard so much about him, and was hoping to see some miracles performed by him.

23:9  So he had been asking him many questions, but Jesus made no answers.

23:10  Meanwhile the high priests and Scribes were standing around, and continually making accusations to him against him.

23:11  Then Herod and his soldiers set him at naught, and mocked him, and throwing about him a gorgeous robe, sent him back to Pilate.

23:12  Herod and Pilate became friends again from that very day; for before they had been at enmity between themselves.

23:13  So Pilate called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

23:14  and said to them. "You brought before me this man as one who incited the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence, and I find no fault in this man regarding the charges that you brought against him.

23:15  Neither does Herod; for he sent him back to us. You see that he has done nothing worthy of death.

23:16  I will therefore, after flogging him, release him."

23:17  "Now he had to release to them at the feast one prisoner."

23:18  Then the whole crowd shouted out, "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas."

23:19  (This was a man who had been thrown in prison on account of a riot which had occurred in the city, and for murder.)

23:20  Then Pilate spoke to them again, because he wished to release Jesus;

23:21  but they continued to shout out and say, "Crucify! Crucify him!"

23:22  For the third time he appealed to them. "But what crime has he committed? I have found in him nothing that deserves death. I will therefore flog him, and let him go."

23:23  But they kept shouting the more insistently, demanding that he should be crucified, and their shouts won the day.

23:24  So Pilate gave sentence what they wished should be done.

23:25  He released the man who had been put in prison for riot and murder, the man whom they asked for; but Jesus he handed over to their will.

23:26  And when they led him away they took hold of Simon, a Cyrenean, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry it behind Jesus.

23:27  He was also followed by a great crowd of people, and of women too, who were beating their breast and lamenting him.

23:28  But Jesus turned to and said. "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me;

23:29  "but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they shall say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have never bore children, and the breasts that never suckled.’

23:30  "Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’

23:31  "For if this is what they do in the green tree, what will they do in the dry?"

23:32  And there were led out with him to be executed, two criminals also.

23:33  When they came to the place called "The Skull," there they crucified him and the criminals also, one upon his right hand, and one upon his left.

23:34  Jesus kept saying, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided his garments among them, casting lots for them,

23:35  and the people stood looking on. Even the rulers repeatedly taunted him, saying, "He saved others, let him save himself, if this fellow is indeed the Christ of God, His Chosen One!"

23:36  Even the soldiers made sport of him by coming up and offering him sour wine,

23:37  saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself."

23:38  For there was an inscription over his head, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

23:39  And one of the criminals who had been hung there kept reviling him, saying. "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us."

23:40  But the other, answering, reproved him, saying. "Have you no fear of God even? When you are suffering the same punishment as he?

23:41  "We indeed justly, for we are receiving due retribution for what we have done. But he has done no wrong."

23:42  Then he added, "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom."

23:43  "In solemn truth I tell you," said Jesus, "that this day you shall be with me in Paradise."

23:44  It was now about the sixth hour, and a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.

23:45  And the sun was darkened, and the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two in the Temple.

23:46  Then with a loud cry, Jesus said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit!" And after uttering these words, he yielded up his spirit.

23:47  When the army captain saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, "This man was really innocent!"

23:48  And all the crowds who had assembled to see this spectacle, after witnessing what had been done, were returning beating upon their breast.

23:49  But all his acquaintances and the women who had been his followers continued to stand at a distance, looking on.

23:50  Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good man and a righteous,

23:51  he who came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and who was on the watch for the kingdom of God. He had not concurred in the designs and deed of the council.

23:52  This man went to Pilate, and begged for the body of Jesus.

23:53  Then taking it down, he wrapped it in linen, and placed it in a tomb hewn in the rock, where no man has ever been laid.

23:54  And it was the day of preparation and the Sabbath was near at hand.

23:55  Then the women who had accompanied him out of Galilee followed after, and noted the tomb, and how his body was placed.

23:56  Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.