The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the NLT. Switch to the NLT to read along with the audio.
25 Simon Peter, meanwhile, was standing there and warming himself.
“You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” they asked him.
He denied it. “No, I’m not,” he said.
26 Then one of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, spoke up.
“Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” he said.
27 Peter denied it once more. Instantly, the cock crowed.
Pilate and the Judaeans
28 So they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium, the governor’s residence. It was early in the morning. They didn’t themselves go inside the Praetorium. They were anxious not to pollute themselves, so that they would still be able to eat the Passover.
29 So Pilate went outside and spoke to them.
“What’s the charge, then?” he asked. “What have you got against this fellow?”
30 “If he wasn’t doing wicked things,” they replied, “we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”
31 “Take him yourselves,” said Pilate to them, “and judge him by your own law.”
“We’re not allowed to put anyone to death,” replied the Judaeans. 32 (This was so that the word of Jesus might come true, when he had indicated what sort of death he was going to die.)
My kingdom is not from this world
33 So Pilate went back in to the Praetorium and spoke to Jesus.
“Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked.
34 “Was it your idea to ask that?” asked Jesus. “Or did other people tell you about me?”
35 “I’m not a Jew, am I?” retorted Pilate. “Your own people, and the chief priests, have handed you over to me! What have you done?”
36 “My kingdom isn’t the sort that grows in this world,” replied Jesus. “If my kingdom were from this world, my supporters would have fought, to stop me being handed over to the Judaeans. So then, my kingdom is not the sort that comes from here.”
37 “So!” said Pilate. “You are a king, are you?”
“You’re the one who’s calling me a king,” replied Jesus. “I was born for this; I’ve come into the world for this: to give evidence about the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
38 “Truth!” said Pilate. “What’s that?”
With those words, he went back out to the Judaeans.
“I find this man not guilty!” he said to them. 39 “But look here: you’ve got this custom that I should let someone free at Passover-time. So what about it? Would you like me to release ‘The King of the Jews’?”
40 “No!” they shouted. “We don’t want him! Give us Barabbas!”
Now Barabbas was a brigand.
Here’s the man!
19 So Pilate then took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and dressed him up in a purple robe. 3 Then they came up to him and said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they slapped him.
4 Pilate went out again.
“Look,” he said to them, “I’m bringing him out to you, so that you’ll know I find no guilt in him.”
5 So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak.
“Look!” said Pilate. “Here’s the man!”
6 So when the chief priests and their attendants saw him, they gave a great shout.
“Crucify him!” they yelled. “Crucify him!”
“Take him yourselves and crucify him!” said Pilate. “I find him not guilty!”
7 “We’ve got a law,” replied the Judaeans, “and according to that law he deserves to die! He made himself the son of God!”
No king but Caesar
8 When Pilate heard that, he was all the more afraid. 9 He went back into the Praetorium and spoke to Jesus.
“Where do you come from?” he asked.
But Jesus gave him no answer.
10 So Pilate addressed him again.
“Aren’t you going to speak to me?” he said. “Don’t you know that I have the authority to let you go, and the authority to crucify you?”
11 “You couldn’t have any authority at all over me,” replied Jesus, “unless it was given to you from above. That’s why the person who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12 From that moment on, Pilate tried to let him go.
But the Judaeans shouted at him.
“If you let this fellow go,” they said, “you are no friend of Caesar! Everyone who sets himself up as a king is speaking against Caesar!”
13 So when Pilate heard them saying that, he brought Jesus out and sat down at the official judgment seat, called The Pavement (in Hebrew, “Gabbatha”). 14 It was about midday on the day of Preparation for the Passover.
“Look,” said Pilate, “here is your king!”
15 “Take him away!” they shouted. “Take him away! Crucify him!”
“Do you want me to crucify your king?” asked Pilate.
“We have no king,” the chief priests replied, “except Caesar!”
16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified.
The King of the Jews
So they took Jesus away. 17 He carried his own cross, and went to the spot called Skull Place (in Hebrew, “Golgotha”). 18 That was where they crucified him. They also crucified two others, one on either side of him, with Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate wrote a notice and had it placed on the cross:
JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS
20 Lots of the Judaeans read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was close to the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.
21 So the chief priests said to Pilate, “Don’t write ‘The King of the Jews’! Write that he said, ‘I am the King of the Jews’!”
22 “What I’ve written,” replied Pilate, “I’ve written.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.