⁹ Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” ¹⁰ He knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of jealousy. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead. ¹² Pilate replied, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?”

¹³ They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴ Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done?”

They shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵ Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.

Jesus is tortured and killed

¹⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away into the courtyard of the palace known as the governor’s headquarters, and they called together the whole company of soldiers. ¹⁷ They dressed him up in a purple robe and twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on him. ¹⁸ They saluted him, “Hey! King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ Again and again, they struck his head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt before him to honor him. ²⁰ When they finished mocking him, they stripped him of the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.