Pilate asks Jesus some questions
11 Now Jesus stood in front of the Roman ruler, Pilate. The ruler asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’
Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’
12 The leaders of the priests and the important Jews spoke against Jesus. They said that he had done many bad things. Jesus did not answer them. 13 So Pilate said to Jesus, ‘You hear what these men are saying against you. You should reply.’ 14 But Jesus did not reply to what the men were saying against him, not even to one thing. Pilate was very surprised about this.
15 Each year, at the time for the Passover festival, the Roman ruler would let one person go free out of the prison. The people could choose which person should go free. 16 At that time, there was a man called Barabbas in prison. Everyone knew about the bad things that he had done. 17 When the crowd came together at Pilate's house, Pilate asked them, ‘Who do you want me to let go free? Should Barabbas go free? Or should it be Jesus, who is called the Messiah?’ 18 Pilate knew why the Jewish leaders had brought Jesus to him. They were jealous because people liked Jesus so much.
19 Pilate was sitting on his special seat as a judge. Then his wife sent a message to him. She said, ‘Do not do anything to that man. He has done nothing wrong. Last night I had a dream about him. It gave me a lot of trouble in my mind.’
20 But the leaders of the priests and the important Jews talked to the crowds of people. They said, ‘You must ask Pilate to let Barabbas go free. Then he must tell the soldiers to kill Jesus.’
21 Pilate asked the people again, ‘Which of these two men should go free?’ The people answered, ‘Barabbas.’
22 Then Pilate asked the people, ‘So what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?’ The people all shouted, ‘Take him and kill him on a cross!’
23 So Pilate said, ‘Why should I kill him? What bad things has he done?’
But the people shouted even louder, ‘Kill him on a cross!’
24 Then Pilate knew that he could not do anything to make them quiet. He thought that the people would start to fight his soldiers. So he took a dish of water and he washed his hands in front of the people. He said, ‘It is not because of me that this man will die. You are the people who have caused it to happen.’
25 All the people answered Pilate, ‘Yes, God should punish us and our children, if we have done the wrong thing.’
26 Then Pilate let Barabbas go free, as the crowd wanted. But he said to his soldiers, ‘Hit Jesus many times with a whip. Then take him and fix him to a cross to die.’
27 Then Pilate's soldiers took Jesus into the yard of the ruler's house. All the other soldiers in their group were there. 28 They removed Jesus' clothes from him. They put a dark red coat on him. 29 They used some branches with thorns to make a crown for him. Then they put it on his head. They put a long stick in his right hand. They went down on their knees in front of him. They laughed at him and they said, ‘Hello, King of the Jews, you are great!’
27:29A crown is a special hat that a king wears on his head. The dark red coat was like a coat that a king would wear. Roman soldiers also wore red coats.
30 Then the soldiers spat into Jesus' face. They took the stick and they hit Jesus on his head with it many times. 31 After they had laughed at him, they took the special coat off him. They put his own clothes back on him. Then they took him out to the place where they would kill him on a cross.
