John 19:1-16 - Pilate Attempts To Release Jesus

¹ So Pilate then took Jesus, and flogged him. ² The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown, and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple garment. ³ And they kept coming up to him and saying, "Hail, King of the Jews." and they struck him with their hands.

⁴ Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him."

⁵ Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, "Look, here is the man."

⁶ When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they shouted, saying, "Crucify. Crucify." Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him."

⁷ The Jewish leaders answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

⁸ When therefore Pilate heard this saying, he was more afraid. ⁹ He entered into the Praetorium again, and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ Pilate therefore said to him, "Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?"

¹¹ Jesus answered, "You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin."

¹² At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, saying, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

¹³ When Pilate therefore heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called "The Pavement," but in Hebrew, "Gabbatha." ¹⁴ Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, here is your King."

¹⁵ They shouted, "Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him." Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

¹⁶ So then he delivered him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus.