Matthew 27:27-66

²⁷Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort to Him. ²⁸And they stripped Him and put a red cloak on Him. ²⁹And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and put a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰And they spit on Him, and took the reed and beat Him on the head. ³¹And after they had mocked Him, they took the cloak off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him.

³²As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they compelled to carry His cross.

³³And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, ³⁴they gave Him wine mixed with bile to drink; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink it.

³⁵And when they had crucified Him, they divided His garments among themselves by casting lots. ³⁶And sitting down, they began to keep watch over Him there. ³⁷And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

³⁸At that time two rebels *were being crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹And those passing by were speaking abusively to Him, shaking their heads, ⁴⁰and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, ⁴²“He saved others; He cannot save Himself! He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. ⁴³He has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” ⁴⁴And the rebels who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him in the same way.

⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁶And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ⁴⁷And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸And immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. ⁴⁹But the rest of them said, “Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him.” ⁵⁰And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. ⁵¹And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵²Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴Now as for the centurion and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

⁵⁵And many women were there watching from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while caring for Him. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶²Now on the next day, that is, the day which is after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, ⁶³and they said, “Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘After three days I am rising.’ ⁶⁴Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶And they went and made the tomb secure with the guard, sealing the stone.