Matthew
Chapter 27
1 When morning came, all the leading priests and elders planned together to kill Jesus.
2 After they tied him up, they took him and handed him over to the governor, Pontius Pilate.
3 Judas, who had betrayed Jesus, felt sorry when he saw Jesus was going to be punished. He returned the thirty silver coins to the religious leaders and elders.
4 “I have done wrong by betraying someone innocent,” he said. “That’s your problem,” they replied.
5 He threw the silver coins in the temple, left, and went to hang himself.
6 The chief priests took the silver and said, “We can’t put this in the treasury because it’s blood money.”
7 They made a plan and used the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.
8 That’s why they call the field the Field of Blood to this day.
9 Then what the prophet Jeremiah had said came true: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by some of the people of Israel.”
10 They used the money to buy the potter’s field, as God told me to do.
11 Jesus stood in front of the governor, who asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “You say so.”
12 When the leading priests and elders accused him, he did not respond.
13 Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear how many things they are accusing you of?”
14 He did not reply at all, which amazed the governor very much.
15 At that festival, the governor usually freed a prisoner chosen by the people.
16 They had a well-known prisoner named Barabbas.
17 So when they all came together, Pilate asked them, “Who do you want me to set free for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Christ?”
18 He knew they had handed him over because they were jealous.
19 When he sat on the judge’s bench, his wife sent a message to him, saying, “Don’t get involved with that innocent man, because I had a lot of trouble in a dream about him today.”
20 The religious leaders and officials convinced the people to choose Barabbas and to get rid of Jesus.
21 The leader answered and asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to set free for you?” They said, “Barabbas.”
22 Pilate asked them, “What should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” They all answered, “Crucify him.”
23 The governor asked, “Why? What bad thing has he done?” But they shouted louder, “Crucify him.”
24 When Pilate realized he was getting nowhere and that a riot was starting, he washed his hands in front of the people and said, “I am not responsible for this man’s death; you deal with it.”
25 Then all the people answered, “Let the responsibility for his death fall on us and our children.”
26 He set Barabbas free for them, and after he had whipped Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.
27 The governor’s soldiers took Jesus to a big room and all the soldiers came together around him.
28 They took off his clothes and put a red robe on him.
29 After making a crown of thorns, they placed it on his head and a stick in his right hand. They knelt down in front of him and made fun of him, saying, “Hello, King of the Jews!”
30 They spat on him, took the stick, and hit him on the head.
31 After mocking him, they removed his robe, dressed him in his own clothes, and took him to be crucified.
32 As they were leaving, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon. They forced him to carry the cross.
33 When they arrived at a place called Golgotha, which means a place of a skull,
34 They gave him sour wine mixed with bitter herbs, and when he tasted it, he refused to drink.
35 They nailed him to a cross and divided his clothes, throwing dice to decide who would get each piece. This happened to fulfill what the prophet said: “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.”
36 They sat down and watched him there.
37 They placed a sign above his head with the charge against him written on it: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Two thieves were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left.
39 People walking by insulted him, shaking their heads.
40 They said, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 The religious leaders also made fun of him, along with the teachers of the law and the older leaders, and said,
42 He saved others; he cannot save himself. If he is Israel’s king, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.
43 He trusted in God; let God rescue him now, if He wants him: because he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The robbers who were crucified with him also insulted him.
45 From noon until three in the afternoon, there was darkness over the entire land.
46 Around the ninth hour, Jesus shouted loudly, saying, Eli, Eli, why have you left me alone?
47 Some people standing there heard this and said, “This man is calling for Elijah.”
48 Right away one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and offered it to him to drink.
49 The others said, “Leave it, let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”
50 Jesus, after crying out loudly, died.
51 Look, the curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom; the ground shook, and the rocks split.
52 The graves opened, and many holy people who had died came back to life.
53 They came out of the tombs after he was raised from the dead, and went into the holy city, where many people saw them.
54 When the army officer and his companions guarding Jesus felt the earthquake and saw what happened, they were very afraid and said, “This really was God’s Son.”
55 Many women were there watching from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, serving him.
56 Included were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.
57 When evening arrived, a wealthy man from Arimathaea called Joseph, who was also Jesus’ follower, came.
58 He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Then Pilate ordered that the body be given to him.
59 When Joseph got the body, he wrapped it in a clean cloth.
60 He placed it in his own new grave that he had carved from the rock, and he rolled a big stone in front of the grave’s entrance, then left.
61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting across from the tomb.
62 The next day, after the preparation day, the chief priests and Pharisees met with Pilate.
63 They said, “Sir, we recall that the deceiver claimed he would rise again three days after his death.”
64 So, make the tomb secure until the third day, so that his followers cannot come at night, take him, and tell everyone, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ This would make the last mistake worse than the first.
65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go and make it as secure as you know how.”
66 They went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone and placing guards.