Pilate in the Bible

Then, early in the morning they led Jesus from Caiaphas to [governor Pilate's] headquarters. But the Jewish authorities would not enter it, because [if they had] they would have become ceremonially unclean, and could not eat the Passover meal. [Note: This was because they regarded a Gentile house as defiling].

So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What accusation are you bringing against this man?"

The Jewish authorities answered Pilate, "If this man were not guilty of wrongdoing, we would not have turned him over to you."

Pilate told them, "You take him and try him according to your Law."

So Pilate went back into the governor's headquarters, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?"

Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? It is your own nation and high priests who have handed you over to me. What have you done?"

Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. I was born for this, and I came into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is committed to the truth listens to my voice."

Pilate asked him, "What is "truth'?" and then he went out to the Jewish leaders again and told them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and whipped.

Pilate went outside again and told the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him."

Then Jesus came outside, wearing the victor's crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate told them, "Here is the man!"

When the high priests and the officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate told them, "You take him and crucify him. I find no basis for a charge against him."

The Jewish leaders answered Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that Law he must die because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

When Pilate heard this, he became even more afraid.

So Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to speak to me? You realize, don't you, that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?"

From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, "If you release this fellow, you're not a friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is defying Caesar!"

When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in a place called The Pavement, which in Hebrew is called Gabbatha.

(Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon.) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, here is your king!"

Then they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Should I crucify your king?"

The high priests responded, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then Pilate handed him over to be crucified, and they took Jesus away.

Pilate wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus from Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

Then the Jewish high priests told Pilate, "Don't write, "The King of the Jews,' but that this fellow said, "I am the King of the Jews.'"

Pilate replied, "What I have written I have written."

Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies on the crosses during the Sabbath, because that was a particularly important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies removed.

Later on, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, and he came and removed his body.