Matthew 27:11-18

11Now Jesus stood in front of the Roman ruler, Pilate. The ruler asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ Jesus replied, ‘You have said it.’

12The leaders of the priests and the important Jews spoke against Jesus. They said that he had done many bad things. Jesus did not answer them.

13So Pilate said to Jesus, ‘You hear what these men are saying against you. You should reply.’

14But Jesus did not reply to what the men were saying against him, not even to one thing. Pilate was very surprised about this.

15Each year, at the time for the Passover festival, the Roman ruler would let one person go free out of the prison. The people could choose which person should go free.

16At that time, there was a man called Barabbas in prison. Everyone knew about the bad things that he had done.

17When the crowd came together at Pilate's house, Pilate asked them, ‘Who do you want me to let go free? Should Barabbas go free? Or should it be Jesus, who is called the Messiah?’

18Pilate knew why the Jewish leaders had brought Jesus to him. They were jealous because people liked Jesus so much.