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(Mat 27:1 NIV) Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death.
(Mat 27:2 NIV) They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.
(Mat 27:3 NIV) When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.
(Mat 27:4 NIV) "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility."
(Mat 27:5 NIV) So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
(Mat 27:6 NIV) The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money."
(Mat 27:7 NIV) So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners.
(Mat 27:8 NIV) That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
(Mat 27:9 NIV) Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel,
(Mat 27:10 NIV) and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me."
(Mat 27:11 NIV) Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied.
(Mat 27:12 NIV) When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.
(Mat 27:13 NIV) Then Pilate asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?"
(Mat 27:14 NIV) But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge--to the great amazement of the governor.
(Mat 27:15 NIV) Now it was the governor's custom at the Feast to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.
(Mat 27:16 NIV) At that time they had a notorious prisoner, called Barabbas.
(Mat 27:17 NIV) So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"
(Mat 27:18 NIV) For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.
(Mat 27:19 NIV) While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him."
(Mat 27:20 NIV) But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.
(Mat 27:21 NIV) "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.
(Mat 27:22 NIV) "What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!"
(Mat 27:23 NIV) "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
(Mat 27:24 NIV) When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
(Mat 27:25 NIV) All the people answered, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!"
(Mat 27:26 NIV) Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.
(Mat 27:27 NIV) Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.
(Mat 27:28 NIV) They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
(Mat 27:29 NIV) and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said.
(Mat 27:30 NIV) They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.
(Mat 27:31 NIV) After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
(Mat 27:32 NIV) As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross.
(Mat 27:33 NIV) They came to a place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull).
(Mat 27:34 NIV) There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it.
(Mat 27:35 NIV) When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
(Mat 27:36 NIV) And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.
(Mat 27:37 NIV) Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
(Mat 27:38 NIV) Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left.
(Mat 27:39 NIV) Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads
(Mat 27:40 NIV) and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"
(Mat 27:41 NIV) In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.
(Mat 27:42 NIV) "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! He's the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
(Mat 27:43 NIV) He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now if he wants him, for he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
(Mat 27:44 NIV) In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
(Mat 27:45 NIV) From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land.
(Mat 27:46 NIV) About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
(Mat 27:47 NIV) When some of those standing there heard this, they said, "He's calling Elijah."
(Mat 27:48 NIV) Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink.
(Mat 27:49 NIV) The rest said, "Now leave him alone. Let's see if Elijah comes to save him."
(Mat 27:50 NIV) And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
(Mat 27:51 NIV) At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
(Mat 27:52 NIV) The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.
(Mat 27:53 NIV) They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
(Mat 27:54 NIV) When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"
(Mat 27:55 NIV) Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs.
(Mat 27:56 NIV) Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
(Mat 27:57 NIV) As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
(Mat 27:58 NIV) Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
(Mat 27:59 NIV) Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
(Mat 27:60 NIV) and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
(Mat 27:61 NIV) Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.
(Mat 27:62 NIV) The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
(Mat 27:63 NIV) "Sir," they said, "we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I will rise again.'
(Mat 27:64 NIV) So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first."
(Mat 27:65 NIV) "Take a guard," Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how."
(Mat 27:66 NIV) So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.
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