Mark 15:23-38

23They offered him wine drugged with myrrh, but he refused it.

24Then the soldiers nailed him to the cross. They divided his clothes and threw dice to decide who would get each piece.

25It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.

26A sign announced the charge against him. It read, “The King of the Jews.”

27Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.

29The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.

30Well then, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

31The leading priests and teachers of religious law also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself!

32Let this Messiah, this King of Israel, come down from the cross so we can see it and believe him!” Even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him.

33At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o’clock.

34Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

35Some of the bystanders misunderstood and thought he was calling for the prophet Elijah.

36One of them ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, holding it up to him on a reed stick so he could drink. “Wait!” he said. “Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down!”

37Then Jesus uttered another loud cry and breathed his last.

38And the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.