6 Now it was the custom at the Feast to release a prisoner whom the people requested. |
7 A man called Barabbas was in prison with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the uprising. |
8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did. |
9 "Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?" asked Pilate, |
10 knowing it was out of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him. |
11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have Pilate release Barabbas instead. |
12 "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" Pilate asked them. |
13 "Crucify him!" they shouted. |
14 "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" |
15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. |
