Matthew 27:11-26

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.

19Pilate was sitting on his special seat as a judge. Then his wife sent a message to him. She said, ‘Do not do anything to that man. He has done nothing wrong. Last night I had a dream about him. It gave me a lot of trouble in my mind.’

20But the leaders of the priests and the important Jews talked to the crowds of people. They said, ‘You must ask Pilate to let Barabbas go free. Then he must tell the soldiers to kill Jesus.’

21Pilate asked the people again, ‘Which of these two men should go free?’ The people answered, ‘Barabbas.’

22Then Pilate asked the people, ‘So what should I do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?’ The people all shouted, ‘Take him and kill him on a cross!’

23So Pilate said, ‘Why should I kill him? What bad things has he done?’ But the people shouted even louder, ‘Kill him on a cross!’

24Then Pilate knew that he could not do anything to make them quiet. He thought that the people would start to fight his soldiers. So he took a dish of water and he washed his hands in front of the people. He said, ‘It is not because of me that this man will die. You are the people who have caused it to happen.’

25All the people answered Pilate, ‘Yes, God should punish us and our children, if we have done the wrong thing.’

26Then Pilate let Barabbas go free, as the crowd wanted. But he said to his soldiers, ‘Hit Jesus many times with a whip. Then take him and fix him to a cross to die.’