Luke 23:11-36

11Then Herod and his soldiers started to laugh at Jesus. They were saying things to make him feel bad. They put a beautiful coat on him. Then they sent him back to Pilate.

12That same day, Herod and Pilate became friends. Until then, they had not liked each other.

13Pilate then told the leaders of the priests, the leaders of the Jews and the people to come back to him.

14He said to them, ‘You brought this man to me. You said that he was causing the people to fight against their rulers. Listen! I have asked him some questions in front of you. But I have not found that he has done anything wrong.

15Herod also did not find that he had done anything wrong. That is why he has sent him back to me. You can see this. He has not done anything bad that means he ought to die.

16So I will just punish him. I will command a soldier to hit him with whips. Then I will let him go.’

17[Pilate usually let one person go free out of the prison at Passover time.]

18But the crowd all shouted together, ‘Take this man away and kill him! We want Barabbas to go free.’

19Barabbas had fought against the Roman rulers in Jerusalem. He had also killed somebody. That is why the rulers had put him in prison.

20But Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go. So he spoke to the crowd again.

21But they continued to shout. They were shouting, ‘Kill him on a cross, kill him on a cross.’

22Pilate asked them the same question for the third time. ‘Why should I kill him? What wrong things has he done? You want me to say that he should die. But I have not found anything wrong that would cause me to say that. So I will punish him. I will command my soldiers to hit him with a whip. Then I will let him go.’

23But they continued to shout at Pilate, ‘Kill him on a cross.’ They continued to shout very much. So, in the end,

24Pilate did what they wanted.

25They had asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free out of the prison. He was the man that had caused the Jewish people to fight against the Roman rulers. He had also killed somebody. He was the man that Pilate let go free. As for Jesus, Pilate commanded the soldiers to take him away. He let the people do to him what they wanted.

26So the soldiers took Jesus away, to go to the place where they would kill him. On the way, they took hold of a man called Simon. This man was from the town of Cyrene. He was coming in from outside the city. The soldiers took the cross that Jesus was carrying on his shoulders. They made Simon carry it instead as he walked behind Jesus.

27A very large crowd of people were following Jesus. There were many women among them. They were crying with loud voices. They were weeping and crying because they were very sad.

28So Jesus turned round and he said to them, ‘You women that live in Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Instead, cry for yourselves and for your children.

29Listen! Days will come when people will say, “It is better for those women that could not have babies. Those women that never had babies to feed are the happy ones!”

30People will begin to say, “It would be better if we were dead.” They will ask the mountains to fall on top of them. They will ask the hills to cover them up.

31There is much trouble and pain now. But much worse things will happen! Now the fire burns slowly. But soon it will be like a fire that quickly burns dry wood!’

32The soldiers also took two other men out of the prison. These men had done bad things. The soldiers would kill them and Jesus together.

33They took them to the place that is called ‘The Skull’. There they fixed Jesus to a cross to die. They also fixed the two bad men to crosses. One of these men was on the right side of Jesus. The other was on his left side.

34Jesus said, ‘Father, these people do not know what they are doing. So please forgive them.’ The soldiers then picked up Jesus' clothes for themselves. They played a game to decide who would receive each piece of his clothes.

35The people stood there and they were watching. The Jewish leaders were laughing at Jesus. They said, ‘He saved other people, did he? Then he should save his own life! Then we will know that he is really the Messiah, the man that God has chosen.’

36The soldiers also laughed at him. They came up to him and they offered him cheap wine to drink.