Mark 15
1 Straightaway, before dawn, after binding Jesus and making a plan, the lead priests, in association with the elders and Bible scholars and the whole Sanhedrin, took him away and handed him over to Pilate.
2 Pilate demanded of him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”a
“If you say so,”b answered Jesus.
3 The lead priests were making many accusations against him, 4 so Pilate again demanded an answer from him.
“Aren’t you responding to anything? Look how many accusations they’re making against you!” 5 But Jesus didn’t respond to anything anymore, which surprised Pilate.
6 Each year during the feast, Pilatec would release one prisoner to the people,d whomever they requested. 7 Someone called Barabbase was imprisoned in association with the resistance fightersf who had murdered someone during an uprising. 8 When the crowd came up, they began to request the release like he usually did for them.
9 Pilate responded to them, “Do you want me to release the king of the Jews for you?” 10 (You see, he knew that the lead priests had handed him over on account of spite).
11 The lead priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas for them instead. 12 Again, Pilate responded, “Then, what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?”
13 “Crucify him!” they shouted back.
14 “Why?” Pilate said to them. “What harm has he done?”
However, they shouted even more, “Crucify him!”
15 So, Pilate, wishing to placate the crowd, released Barabbas to them, and after having Jesus flogged, he handed Jesus over to be crucified.
16 The soldiers led him away inside the courtyard (the one at the Roman headquarters) and called together the whole cohort.g 17 They clothed him in purple,h and after braiding one, put a crown of thornsi on him. 18 Then, they began to salute him, “Hello, king of the Jews!” 19 and repeatedly struck him over the head with a staff and spit on him. Then, getting on their knees, they began paying homage to him. 20 After they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple and put his clothes on him. Then they led him outside to crucify him.
21 The soldiers forced someone passing by, Simeon of Cyrene who was coming in from the fields (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus),j to carry Jesus’k cross. 22 They brought him to a place called Golgotha (which is translated as ‘Place of the Skull’). 23 Peoplel offered him wine flavored with myrrh, but he did not take it.
24 The soldiers crucified him and divided his clothing, casting lots for them,m to decide who would take what. 25 It was midmorningn when they crucified him. 26 The inscription of the accusation against him read, “The king of the Jews.” 27 They also crucified two insurrectionistso with him, one on this right and one on his left.p
29 q People who passed by spoke contemptuously tor him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You-who-can-destroy-the-temple-and-build-one-in-three-days, 30 restores yourself, and come down from the cross!”
31 Likewise, the lead priests, along with the Bible scholars, were also mocking him to each other, saying, “He restoredt others, but he can’t restore himself! 32 The anointedu king of Israel should come down from the cross now, so we could see and trust him!” Even the people who had been crucified along with him were speaking to him with contempt.
33 When it came to be midday,v it became dark across the whole land until midafternoon.w 34 At midafternoon, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”x
35 When some of the people standing nearby heard it, they said, “Look, he’s calling Elijah!” 36 Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine,y put it on a reed staff, and gave it to him to drink, saying , “Let it out!z Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down!” 37 Then Jesus, letting out a loud call, let out his life-breath.aa
38 The curtain of the temple was split in two from top to bottom. 39 When the centurion who was standing in front of him saw that that was how he let out his life-breath, he said, “This person really was the Son of God!”bb
40 Some women were also watching from a distance. Among them were Miriam the Tower,cc Miriam the mother of the youngerdd Jacob and Joses, and Salome. 41 When he was in Galilee, they used to follow him and aid him, and many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there.
42 Before it came to be evening, since it was the day of preparation (which is the day before Shabbat), 43 Joseph of Arimathea, who was a well thought of member of the Sanhedrin and who himself was receptive to God’s reign, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. 44 Pilate was surprised he had already died, and he called for the centurion and inquired from him how long ago he had died. 45 When he had learned about it from the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. 46 After buying a linen wrap and taking down the body, Joseph wrapped it in the linen and placed it in a tomb that was cut out of the rock, and he rolled a stone over the entrance of the tomb. 47 Miriam the Tower and Miriam mother of Joses saw where it was placed.
FOOTNOTES:
a Or ‘Judeans’
b Literally, this whole phrase that Jesus says is just, “You say” in the Greek.
c The name is added for clarity.
d “The people’ is added for clarity. It literally says, “to them.”
e ‘Barabbas’ was Aramaic for ‘Son of Father’ or “Son of Master,” which could have been his father’s name (Abba) or he could have been a known follower of some other master, or it could have been a title or pseudonym of some kind.
f This word most literally means ‘those who rise up’ and refers to people who engage in revolution, insurrection, or resistance action against a government power, in this case against Rome.
g Typically, a cohort consisted of 480 soldiers, though it varied.
h Purple was the official color of the Caesar family and imperial court.
i Caesar worn a woven laurel crown, so this was mocking Jesus as a usurper against Caesar.
j Or ‘the countryside’
k Literally, ‘his’
l Literally, ‘they’ but it is unclear who it is referring to. Grammatically, the soldiers would be the most likely choice, but it seems improbable that they would have offered him this drink as it was meant to be used as a pain reliever.
m Compare with Psalm 22:18
n Literally, ‘the third hour’
o Or ‘usurpers’ or ‘outlaws’ or ‘bandits’
p Compare with Mark 10:37-40
q Verse 28 is not included as it does not appear in the most reliable manuscripts. It reads, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘He was counted with the lawless ones,’” which is a quotation of Isaiah 53:12 and is most likely a result of someone trying to make Mark 15 match Luke 22:37.
r Or ‘spoke disrespectfully to’ or ‘slandered’ or ‘belittled’
s Or ‘liberate.’ Traditionally, ‘save.’
t Or ‘healed’ or ‘liberated.’ Traditionally, ‘saved.’
u Or, “The meshiah, the king of Israel”
v Literally, ‘the sixth hour’
w Literally, ‘the ninth hour’
x Quotation of Psalm 22:1
y Roman soldiers often drank wine that had gone to vinegar mixed with water.
z This is literally a single word that can be translated in various ways based on context. It is aphiemi, which an be translated as ‘release,’ ‘let go,’ ‘send away,’ ‘forgive,’ ‘dismiss,’ ‘divorce,’ ‘leave,’ or ‘leave alone,’ among others.
aa Traditionally, ‘breathed his last’ or ‘gave up the ghost.’
bb “The Son of God” was a nickname for the emperor, a title taken on originally by Augustus Caesar, the son of Julius Caesar who was worshiped as divine, and was then used by each subsequent Caesar. To use it in application to Jesus was an explicitly political challenge to the lordship of Caesar.
cc Traditionally, ‘Magdalene.’ Magdalene means ‘tower’ in Aramaic. It has traditionally been thought to mean ‘from Magdala,’ but the town now known as Magdala was not called that at the time.
dd This is often placed after the name as “James the younger” as if it were a title, but it is really just trying to distinguish between two or more people with the same name for people who were familiar with all.