7. A man named Barabbas was locked up with the rebels who had committed murder during an uprising.
8. The crowd pushed forward and asked Pilate to release someone, as he regularly did.
9. Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?"
10. He knew that the chief priests had handed him over because of jealousy.
11. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.
12. Pilate replied, "Then what do you want me to do with the one you call king of the Jews?"
13. They shouted back, "Crucify him!"
14. Pilate said to them, "Why? What wrong has he done?" They shouted even louder, "Crucify him!"
15. Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus whipped, then handed him over to be crucified.
16. The soldiers led Jesus away into the courtyard of the palace known as the governor’s headquarters, and they called together the whole company of soldiers.
17. They dressed him up in a purple robe and twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on him.
18. They saluted him, "Hey! King of the Jews!"
19. Again and again, they struck his head with a stick. They spit on him and knelt before him to honor him.