Mark 15:1-10 ▼

1 Early in the morning the chief priests immediately came to a decision with the leaders and the scribes. The whole Jewish council decided to tie Jesus up, lead him away, and hand him over to Pilate.

2 Pilate asked him, |Are you the king of the Jews?| |Yes, I am,| Jesus answered him.

3 The chief priests were accusing him of many things.

4 So Pilate asked him again, |Don't you have any answer? Look how many accusations they're bringing against you!|

5 But Jesus no longer answered anything, so Pilate was surprised.

6 At every Passover festival, Pilate would free one prisoner whom the people asked for.

7 There was a man named Barabbas in prison. He was with some rebels who had committed murder during a riot.

8 The crowd asked Pilate to do for them what he always did.

9 Pilate answered them, |Do you want me to free the king of the Jews for you?|

10 Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous.