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which is the Prætorium; and they call together the whole band.

And they stripped him, and arrayed him in a purple garment. And they platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying: "Hail, King of the Jews!" and they struck him with their hands. And they spat upon him, and took the reed and smote him upon the head.

And Pilate went out again, and saith unto them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find no crime in him."

Jesus therefore came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. And Pilate saith unto them, "Behold, the man!"

When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify him, crucify him!"

Pilate saith unto them, "Take him yourselves, and crucify him: for I find no crime in him."

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

When Pilate therefore heard this saying, he was the inore afraid; and he entered into the Prætorium again, and saith unto Jesus, "Whence art thou?"

But Jesus gave him no answer.

Pilate therefore saith unto him, "Speakest thou not unto me? Knowest thou not that I have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee?"

Jesus answered him, "Thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath greater sin."

Upon this Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews

THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE RESUMED

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cried out, saying, "If thou release this man, thou art not Cæsar's friend: every one that maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar."

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.

And while he was sitting on the judgment-seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, "Have thou nothing to do with that righteous man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him."

Now it was the Preparation of the passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, "Behold, your King."

They therefore cried out, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him!"

Pilate saith unto them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Cæsar."

So when Pilate saw that he prevailed nothing, but rather that a tumult was arising, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man; see ye to it."

And all the people answered and said, "His blood be on us, and on our children."

And they were urgent with loud voices asking that he might be crucified. And their voices prevailed.

And Pilate, wishing to content the multitude, gave sentence that what they asked for should be done. And he released unto them Barabbas, him that for insurrection and murder had been cast into prison, whom they asked for; but Jesus he delivered up to their will.

And when they had mocked him, they took off from him the robe, and put on him his garments, and led him away to crucify him.

THE SORROWFUL WAY.

They took Jesus therefore: and he went out, bearing the cross for himself.

And as they came out, they laid hold upon one Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. who was passing by, coming from the country; him they compelled to go with them, and laid on him the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning unto them said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, 'Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never gave suck.' Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us;' and to the hills, 'Cover us. For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"

And there were also two others, malefactors, led with him to be put to death.

THE CRUCIFIXION.

And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, The place of a skull, they gave him wine to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted it, he would not drink.

There they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.

And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."

And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written:

JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

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This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek.

The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, "Write not, 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"

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

The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore one to another, "Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be": that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith,

"They parted my garments among them,

And upon my vesture did they cast lots."

These things therefore the soldiers did; and they sat and watched him there.

And the people stood beholding.

And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself: if thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross."

In like manner also, the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe. He trusteth on God; let him deliver him now, if he desireth him: for he said, I am the Son of God."

And one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, "Art not thou the Christ? Save thyself and us."

But the other answered, and rebuking him said, "Dost thou not even fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom."

And he said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise."

But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, "Woman, behold thy

son!"

Then saith he to the disciple, “Behold, thy mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home.

And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, 'lama sabachthani?" which is, being interpreted, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me."

And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, "Behold, he calleth Elijah."

After this, Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished, that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, "I thirst."

There was set there a vessel full of vinegar: so they put a sponge full of the vinegar upon hyssop, and brought it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished."

And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," and having said this, he gave up the ghost.

And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two

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