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¹Very early in the morning the leading priests, the elders, and the teachers of religious law — the entire high council — met to discuss their next step. They bound Jesus, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.

²Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You have said it.”

³Then the leading priests kept accusing him of many crimes,

⁴and Pilate asked him, “Aren’t you going to answer them? What about all these charges they are bringing against you?”

⁵But Jesus said nothing, much to Pilate’s surprise.

⁶Now it was the governor’s custom each year during the Passover celebration to release one prisoner — anyone the people requested.

⁷One of the prisoners at that time was Barabbas, a revolutionary who had committed murder in an uprising.

⁸The crowd went to Pilate and asked him to release a prisoner as usual.

⁹“Would you like me to release to you this ‘King of the Jews’?” Pilate asked.

¹⁰(For he realized by now that the leading priests had arrested Jesus out of envy.)

¹¹But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus.

¹²Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”

¹³They shouted back, “Crucify him!”

¹⁴“Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?” But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”

¹⁵So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.

¹⁶The soldiers took Jesus into the courtyard of the governor’s headquarters (called the Praetorium) and called out the entire regiment.

¹⁷They dressed him in a purple robe, and they wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head.

¹⁸Then they saluted him and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!”

¹⁹And they struck him on the head with a reed stick, spit on him, and dropped to their knees in mock worship.

²⁰When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.

²¹A passerby named Simon, who was from Cyrene, was coming in from the countryside just then, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. (Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.)

²²And they brought Jesus to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”).

²³They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

²⁴Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece.

²⁵It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.

²⁶A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”

²⁷Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

²⁸

²⁹The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.

³⁰Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

³¹The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself!

³²Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

³³At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.

³⁴Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

³⁵Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.

³⁶One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

³⁷Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.

³⁸And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

³⁹When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, “This man truly was the Son of God!”

⁴⁰Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph ), and Salome.

⁴¹They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there.

⁴²This all happened on Friday, the day of preparation, the day before the Sabbath. As evening approached,

⁴³Joseph of Arimathea took a risk and went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. (Joseph was an honored member of the high council, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come.)

⁴⁴Pilate couldn’t believe that Jesus was already dead, so he called for the Roman officer and asked if he had died yet.

⁴⁵The officer confirmed that Jesus was dead, so Pilate told Joseph he could have the body.

⁴⁶Joseph bought a long sheet of linen cloth. Then he took Jesus’ body down from the cross, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a stone in front of the entrance.

⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joseph saw where Jesus’ body was laid.

¹Saturday evening, when the Sabbath ended, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome went out and purchased burial spices so they could anoint Jesus’ body.

²Very early on Sunday morning, just at sunrise, they went to the tomb.

³On the way they were asking each other, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?”

⁴But as they arrived, they looked up and saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled aside.

⁵When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked,

⁶but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.

⁷Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died.”

⁸The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened. [The most ancient manuscripts of Mark conclude with verse 16:8. Later manuscripts add one or both of the following endings.] [Shorter Ending of Mark] Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen. [Longer Ending of Mark]

⁹After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons.

¹⁰She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened.

¹¹But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn’t believe her.

¹²Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country.

¹³They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.

¹⁴Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

¹⁵And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.

¹⁶Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.

¹⁷These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.

¹⁸They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”

¹⁹When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

²⁰And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.