10. Pilate said, “You refuse to speak to me? Remember, I have the power to make you free or to kill you on a cross.”
11. Jesus answered, “The only power you have over me is the power given to you by God. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
12. After this, Pilate tried to let Jesus go free. But the Jewish leaders shouted, “Anyone who makes himself a king is against Caesar. So if you let this man go free, that means you are not Caesar’s friend.”
13. When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out to the place called “The Stone Pavement.” (In Aramaic the name is Gabbatha.) Pilate sat down on the judge’s seat there.
14. It was now almost noon on Preparation day of Passover week. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”
15. They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Kill him on a cross!” Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to kill your king on a cross?” The leading priests answered, “The only king we have is Caesar!”
16. So Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be killed on a cross. The soldiers took Jesus.
17. He carried his own cross to a place called “The Place of the Skull.” (In Aramaic the name of this place is “Golgotha.”)
18. There they nailed Jesus to the cross. They also nailed two other men to crosses. They put them on each side of Jesus with him in the middle.
19. Pilate told them to write a sign and put it on the cross. The sign said, “jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews.”
20. The sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was nailed to the cross was near the city.
21. The leading Jewish priests said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews.’ But write, ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews.’”