The Season of Lent

¹²Even now, declares the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and grief.

¹³Tear your heart and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in mercy,

and he relents from sending disaster.

¹⁴Who knows?

He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

¹⁵Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.

Set aside a day for fasting.

Call a solemn convocation.

¹⁶Gather the people.

Consecrate the assembly.

Bring together the elders.

Gather the children, even those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the temple porch and the altar.

Let them say:

Have compassion on your people, O Lord.

Do not subject the inheritance you have given us to the scorn of the nations.

Do not make us notorious among the nations as an object of ridicule.

Why should they say among the peoples,

“Where is their God?”

¹⁸The Lord is zealous for his land,

and he will take pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord will respond to them:

I am sending you grain, new wine, and fresh oil,

enough to satisfy you fully.

Never again will I subject you to scorn among the nations.

We urge you, on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

^6:1As fellow workers we also urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ²For he says:

At a favorable time I listened to you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.

Look, now is the favorable time! See, now is the day of salvation!

³We are giving no one a reason to stumble in any way, so that our ministry will not be blamed. ⁴Rather, in every way we show ourselves to be God’s ministers: in great endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in difficulties, ⁵in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in hard work, in sleepless nights, in times of hunger; ⁶in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left; ⁸through glory and dishonor, through bad report and good report; treated as deceivers yet being honest, ⁹treated as unknown and yet being well known; as dying, and yet look—we live; as punished yet not put to death; ¹⁰as grieving yet always rejoicing; as poor yet making many rich; as having nothing yet possessing everything.

“Be careful that you do not do your righteous works in front of people, so that they will notice. If you do, you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. ²So whenever you perform acts of mercy, do not sound a trumpet for yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets to be praised by people. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward. ³Instead, when you perform acts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴Then your acts of mercy will be in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

⁵“Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by people. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward. ⁶But whenever you pray, go into your private room, close your door, and pray to your Father who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what others cannot see, will reward you.

¹⁶“Whenever you fast, do not make yourself look sad like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show everyone that they are fasting. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that it is not apparent to people that you are fasting, but only to your Father who sees what is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now the serpent was more clever than any wild animal which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, ³but not from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it. You shall not touch it, or else you will die.’”

⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die. ⁵In fact, God knows that the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appealing to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She gave some also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for their waists. ⁸They heard the voice of the Lord God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”

¹¹God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent:

Because you have done this,

you are cursed more than all the livestock,

and more than every wild animal.

You shall crawl on your belly,

and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your seed and her seed.

He will crush your head,

and you will crush his heel.

¹⁶To the woman he said:

I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing.

With painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

but he will rule over you.

¹⁷To Adam he said:

Because you listened to your wife’s voice

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

“You shall not eat from it,”

the soil is cursed on account of you.

You will eat from it with painful labor all the days of your life.

¹⁸Thorns and thistles will spring up from the ground for you,

but you will eat the crops of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face you will eat bread

until you return to the soil,

for out of it you were taken.

For you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.

²⁰The man named his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. ²¹The Lord God made clothing of animal skins for Adam and for his wife and clothed them.

¹²So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. ¹³For even before the law was given, sin was in the world. Now, sin is not charged to one’s account if there is no law, ¹⁴and yet death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those whose sin was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern of the one who was to come.

¹⁵But the gracious gift is not like Adam’s trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God’s grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many!

¹⁶And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification.

¹⁷Indeed, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, it is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!

¹⁸So then, just as one trespass led to a verdict of condemnation for all people, so also one righteous verdict led to life-giving justification for all people. ¹⁹For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. ²After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”

⁴But Jesus answered, “It is written:

Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”

⁵Then the Devil took him into the holy city. He placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶and he said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you.

And they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written:

You shall not test the Lord your God.”

⁸Again the Devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

¹¹Then the Devil left him, and just then angels came and served him.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. ²I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to travel to the land of Canaan. Eventually they arrived in the land of Canaan. ⁶Abram passed through the land until he came to the Oak of Moreh at the place called Shechem. The Canaanites were in the land at that time.

⁷The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent there, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁹Abram pulled out from there and kept traveling toward the Negev.

What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered according to the flesh? ²If indeed Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast—but not before God. ³For what does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

⁴Now to a person who works, his pay is not counted as a gift but as something owed. ⁵But to the person who does not work but believes in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness.

⁶This is exactly what David says about the blessed state of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:

⁷Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven

and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.

¹³Indeed, the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not given to Abraham or his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness that is by faith. ¹⁴To be sure, if people are heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. ¹⁵For law brings wrath. (Where there is no law, there is no transgression.) ¹⁶For this reason, the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants—not only to the one who is a descendant by law, but also to the one who has the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ²He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! ⁶Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above. ⁸The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰“You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? ¹¹Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

¹⁴“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The entire Israelite community set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin as the Lord had commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”

³But the people were thirsty for water there, so they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up out of Egypt to let us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?”

⁴Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Go in front of the people, and take the elders of Israel with you. Also take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶Watch me. I will stand there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” Moses did that in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God.

³Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, ⁴and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. ⁵And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

⁶For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there. Then Jesus, being tired from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹“Sir,” she said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this living water? ¹²You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.”

¹³Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again. Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵“Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.”

¹⁷“I have no husband,” the woman answered.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say, ‘I have no husband.’ ¹⁸In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

¹⁹“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. ²³But a time is coming and now is here when the real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for those are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

²⁷Just then his disciples returned and were surprised that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking to her?”

²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back into town. She said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see the man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰They left the town and came to him.

³⁹Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony: “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed there two days. ⁴¹Many more believed because of his message. ⁴²They told the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said. Now we have heard for ourselves. And we know that this really is the Savior of the world.”

¹⁴I have been silent for a long time.

I have kept still. I have restrained myself.

But now, like a woman giving birth, I will scream.

I will gasp and pant.

¹⁵I will dry up mountains and hills.

I will make all their grass wither.

I will turn rivers into islands.

I will dry up pools.

¹⁶I will lead the blind on a way they do not know.

Along paths they do not know I will direct them.

Ahead of them I will turn darkness into light

and rough places into level ground.

These are the things I will accomplish for them.

I will not abandon them.

¹⁷They will be turned back and completely disgraced—

those who trust in an idol,

those who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”

¹⁸You deaf ones, listen!

You blind ones, watch carefully so that you can see!

¹⁹Who is as blind as my servant?

Who is as deaf as my messenger whom I sent?

Who is as blind as my associate,

as blind as the servant of the Lord?

²⁰You, Israel, see many things, but you do not observe.

Israel opens his ears, but he does not hear.

²¹Because of his own righteousness,

the Lord was pleased to make his law great and glorious.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, ⁹for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. ¹⁰Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord, ¹¹and do not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness. Instead, expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention the things that are done by people in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes things visible. ¹⁴Therefore it is said, “Awake, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. ⁴I must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”

⁶After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷“Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸His neighbors and those who had seen him before this as a beggar asked, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some said, “He is the one.”

Others said, “No, but he looks like him.”

He kept saying, “I am the one!”

¹⁰So they asked him, “How were your eyes opened?”

¹¹He answered, “The man who is called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹²“Where is he?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³They brought this man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight.

“He put mud on my eyes,” the man told them. “I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man work such miraculous signs?”

There was division among them, ¹⁷so they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and received his sight, until they summoned the parents of the man who had received his sight. ¹⁹They asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How is it, then, that he can see now?”

²⁰“We know that this is our son,” his parents answered, “and that he was born blind. ²¹But we do not know how he can see now, or who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough. He will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. ²³That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”

²⁴So for a second time they summoned the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”

²⁵He answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see.”

²⁶Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples too, do you?”

²⁸They ridiculed him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses. But this man—we do not know where he comes from.”

³⁰“That’s amazing!” the man answered. “You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners. But he does listen to anyone who worships God and does his will. ³²From the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone opening the eyes of someone born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

³⁶“Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”

³⁷Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”

³⁸Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”

⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?”

⁴¹Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not hold on to sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

or

John 9:1-7, 13-17, 34-39

As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that God’s works might be revealed in connection with him. ⁴I must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the World.”

⁶After saying this, Jesus spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷“Go,” Jesus told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

¹³They brought this man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight.

“He put mud on my eyes,” the man told them. “I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶Then some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others were saying, “How can a sinful man work such miraculous signs?”

There was division among them, ¹⁷so they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

³⁴They answered him, “You were entirely born in sinfulness! Yet you presume to teach us?” And they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. When he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

³⁶“Who is he, sir,” the man replied, “that I may believe in him?”

³⁷Jesus answered, “You have seen him, and he is the very one who is speaking with you.”

³⁸Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” and he knelt down and worshipped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, in order that those who do not see will see, and those who do see will become blind.”

The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, which was full of bones. ²He had me pass through them and go all over among them. There were very many on the valley floor, and they were very dry.

³He said to me, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?” I answered, “Lord God, you know.” ⁴Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’ ”

⁵This is what the Lord God says to these bones.

I am about to make breath enter you so that you will live. ⁶I will attach tendons to you. I will put flesh back on you. I will cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I was prophesying there was a noise, a rattling, as the bones came together, one bone connecting to another. ⁸As I watched, tendons were attached to them, then flesh grew over them, and skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.

⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind that this is what the Lord God says. From the four winds, come, O wind, and breathe into these slain so that they may live.”

¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me. Breath entered them, and they came back to life. They stood on their feet, a very, very large army.

¹¹Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up. Our hope is lost. We have been completely cut off.’ ¹²Therefore, prophesy and say to them that this is what the Lord God says. My people, I am going to open your graves and raise you up from your graves and bring you back to the soil of Israel. ¹³Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. I will settle you on your own land, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.”

So then, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. ³Indeed, what the law was unable to do, because it was weakened by the flesh, God did, when he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to deal with sin. God condemned sin in his flesh, ⁴so that the righteous decree of the law would be fully satisfied in us who are not walking according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

⁵To be sure, those who are in harmony with the sinful flesh think about things the way the sinful flesh does, and those in harmony with the spirit think about things the way the spirit does. ⁶Now, the way the sinful flesh thinks results in death, but the way the spirit thinks results in life and peace. ⁷For the mind-set of the sinful flesh is hostile to God, since it does not submit to God’s law, and in fact, it cannot. ⁸Those who are in the sinful flesh cannot please God.

⁹But you are not in the sinful flesh but in the spirit, if indeed God’s Spirit lives in you. And if someone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit, who is dwelling in you.

Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the same Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.

³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one you love is sick!”

⁴When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness is not going to result in death, but it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the place where he was two more days.

⁷Then afterwards he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, recently the Jews were trying to stone you. And you are going back there again?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks around during the day, he does not stumble because he sees this world’s light. ¹⁰But if anyone walks around at night, he stumbles because there is no light on him.”

¹¹He said this and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹²Then the disciples said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”

¹³Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought he was merely talking about ordinary sleep. ¹⁴So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵And I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too, so that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

¹⁸Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. ¹⁹Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.

²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. ²⁶And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

²⁸After she said this, Martha went back to call her sister Mary. She whispered, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”

²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet gone into the village, but was still where Martha met him. ³¹The Jews who were with Mary in the house consoling her saw that she got up quickly and left. So they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled.

³⁴He asked, “Where have you laid him?”

They told him, “Lord, come and see.”

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹“Take away the stone,” he said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone.

Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.

⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. They asked, “What are we going to do, because this man is doing many miraculous signs? ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰You do not even consider that it is better for us that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” ⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, ⁵²and not only for that nation, but also in order to gather into one the scattered children of God.

⁵³So from that day on they plotted to kill him.

or

John 11:17-27, 38-53

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

¹⁸Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. ¹⁹Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.

²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. ²⁶And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

³⁸Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹“Take away the stone,” he said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”

⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone.

Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. They asked, “What are we going to do, because this man is doing many miraculous signs? ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”

⁴⁹But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰You do not even consider that it is better for us that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” ⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, ⁵²and not only for that nation, but also in order to gather into one the scattered children of God. ⁵³So from that day on they plotted to kill him.

⁴The Lord God gave me a tongue like the learned, an instructed tongue,

so I know how to sustain the weary with a word.

He wakes me up morning by morning.

He wakes up my ears so that I listen like the learned.

⁵The Lord God opened my ear,

and I myself was not rebellious.

I did not turn back.

⁶I submitted my back to those who beat me,

and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.

I did not hide my face from disgrace and from spit.

⁷The Lord God will help me,

so I will not be disgraced.

Therefore I have made my face hard like flint.

I know that I will not be put to shame.

⁸The one who will acquit me is near!

Who can accuse me?

Let us take our stand.

Who can pass judgment on me?

Let him approach me.

⁹Look, the Lord God will help me.

Who then can declare me guilty?

⁵Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. ⁶Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, ⁷but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²The next day, the large crowd that had come for the Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³Taking palm branches, they went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord—the King of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:

¹⁵Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.

Look! Your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.

¹⁶At first, his disciples did not understand these things. But when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him, and that they did these things for him.

¹⁷The crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept telling what they had seen. ¹⁸This is another reason a crowd met him: They heard he had done this miraculous sign.

¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You are accomplishing nothing. Look! The world has gone after him.”

or

Matthew 26:1-27:66

When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, ²“You know that after two days it will be the Passover, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas. ⁴They plotted together how to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him. ⁵But they said, “Not during the Festival, or else there might be a riot among the people.”

⁶When Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, ⁷a woman approached him holding an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. She poured it on his head as he was reclining at the table. ⁸But when his disciples saw this, they were upset and said, “Why this waste? ⁹This perfume could have been sold for a lot of money and given to the poor.”

¹⁰Jesus was aware of this and said to them, “Why are you causing trouble for this woman? She has done a beautiful thing for me. ¹¹You are always going to have the poor with you, but you are not always going to have me. ¹²When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ¹³Amen I tell you: Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶From that time on Judas was looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him the Teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will observe the Passover with my disciples at your house.’”

¹⁹The disciples did as Jesus commanded them and prepared the Passover. ²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.

²¹As they were eating, he said, “Amen I tell you: One of you will betray me.”

²²They were very sad and began to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I, Lord?”

²³He replied, “The one who dipped his hand in the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man is going just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

²⁵Judas, who betrayed him, replied, “Surely, not I, Rabbi?”

He said to him, “Yes, you are the one.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples. He said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” ²⁷Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰After they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

³¹Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ³²But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”

³³Peter answered him, “Even if all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”

³⁴Jesus said to him, “Amen I tell you: Tonight before the rooster crows you will deny me three times.”

³⁵Peter said to him, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the disciples said the same.

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane. He told his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he began to be sorrowful and distressed. ³⁸Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to the point of death. Stay here, and keep watch with me.”

³⁹He went a little farther, fell on his face, and prayed. He said, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

⁴⁰He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “So, were you not able to stay awake with me for one hour? ⁴¹Watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to pass from me unless I drink it, may your will be done.” ⁴³Again he returned and found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time. He said the same words as before. ⁴⁵Then he returned to his disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ⁴⁶Rise. Let us go. Look, my betrayer is near.”

⁴⁷While Jesus was still speaking, suddenly Judas (one of the Twelve) arrived. With him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, who came from the chief priests and elders of the people. ⁴⁸Now the betrayer had given them a sign: “The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him.” ⁴⁹Immediately he went to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Friend, why are you here?”

Then they advanced, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him. ⁵¹Suddenly, one of the men with Jesus reached out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, because all who take the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³Do you not realize that I could call on my Father, and at once he would provide me with more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?”

⁵⁵At that same time Jesus said to the crowd, “Have you come out to arrest me with swords and clubs as if I were a robber? Day after day I was sitting in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. ⁵⁶But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the experts in the law and the elders were assembled. ⁵⁸Peter was following him at a distance and went as far as the courtyard of the high priest. He went inside and sat down with the guards to see how it would turn out.

⁵⁹The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰They found none, even though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward ⁶¹and said, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

⁶²The high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that these men are testifying against you?” ⁶³But Jesus remained silent. Then the high priest said to him, “I place you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God!”

⁶⁴Jesus said to him, “It is as you have said. But I tell you, soon you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? See, you have just heard the blasphemy! ⁶⁶What do you think?”

They answered, “He is deserving of death!” ⁶⁷Then they spit in his face and punched him. Some slapped him ⁶⁸and said, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who hit you?”

⁶⁹Meanwhile Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came to him and said, “You were also with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰But he denied it in front of everyone, saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

⁷¹When Peter went out to the entryway, someone else saw him and said to those who were there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷²Again Peter denied it with an oath and said, “I do not know the man.”

⁷³After a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, “Surely you are also one of them because even your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴Then he began to curse and to swear, “I do not know the man!” Just then the rooster crowed. ⁷⁵And Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went outside and wept bitterly.

^27:1Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people reached the decision to put Jesus to death. ²They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

³Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he felt remorse. He brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders ⁴and said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? That’s your problem.”

⁵He threw the pieces of silver into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself. ⁶The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put these into the treasury, since it is blood money.” ⁷They reached a decision to buy the potter’s field with the money, as a burial place for foreigners. ⁸So that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. ⁹Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price the sons of Israel had set for him, ¹⁰and they gave them for the potter’s field, just as the Lord commanded me.

¹¹When Jesus stood in the presence of the governor, the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”

¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. ¹³Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they are testifying against you?”

¹⁴But he did not answer him—not even one word, so that the governor was very surprised.

¹⁵At the time of the Festival the governor had a custom to release to the crowd any one prisoner they wanted. ¹⁶At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. ¹⁷So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas—or Jesus, who is called Christ?” ¹⁸For Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.

¹⁹While he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s wife sent him a message. “Have nothing to do with that righteous man,” she said, “since I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.” ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death. ²¹The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

“Barabbas!” they said.

²²Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”

They all said to him, “Crucify him!”

²³But the governor said, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they kept shouting even louder: “Crucify him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. It is your responsibility.”

²⁵And all the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head.

³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

³²As they were going out of the city, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha, which means, “The place of the skull.” ³⁴They offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵After they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among themselves by casting lots. ³⁶Then they sat down and were keeping watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they posted the written charge against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸At the same time two criminals were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹People who passed by kept insulting him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who were 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, experts in the law, and elders kept mocking him. They said, ⁴²“He saved others, but he cannot save himself. If he’s the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now, if he wants him, because he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him kept insulting him.

⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “This fellow is calling for Elijah.”

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, and soaked it with sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and gave him a drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰After Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. ⁵¹Suddenly, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks were split. ⁵²Tombs were opened, and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised to life. ⁵³Those who came out of the tombs went into the holy city after Jesus’ resurrection and appeared to many people. ⁵⁴When the centurion and those who were guarding Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

⁵⁵Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and who had served him were there, watching from a distance. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. He rolled a large stone over the tomb’s entrance and left. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶²On the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered in the presence of Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remembered what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give a command that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples might steal his body and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead.’ And this 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.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and posting a guard.

or 

Matthew 27:11-66

¹¹When Jesus stood in the presence of the governor, the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

Jesus said to him, “It is as you say.”

¹²When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. ¹³Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many things they are testifying against you?”

¹⁴But he did not answer him—not even one word, so that the governor was very surprised.

¹⁵At the time of the Festival the governor had a custom to release to the crowd any one prisoner they wanted. ¹⁶At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas. ¹⁷So when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, “Which one do you want me to release to you? Barabbas—or Jesus, who is called Christ?” ¹⁸For Pilate knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.

¹⁹While he was sitting on the judgment seat, Pilate’s wife sent him a message. “Have nothing to do with that righteous man,” she said, “since I have suffered many things today in a dream because of him.” ²⁰But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death. ²¹The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”

“Barabbas!” they said.

²²Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus, who is called Christ?”

They all said to him, “Crucify him!”

²³But the governor said, “Why? What has he done wrong?”

But they kept shouting even louder: “Crucify him!”

²⁴When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that instead it was turning into a riot, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, “I am innocent of this righteous man’s blood. It is your responsibility.”

²⁵And all the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!”

²⁶Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort of soldiers around him. ²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. ²⁹They twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, knelt in front of him, and mocked him by saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ³⁰They spit on him, took the staff, and hit him repeatedly on his head.

³¹After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

³²As they were going out of the city, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. ³³They came to a place called Golgotha, which means, “The place of the skull.” ³⁴They offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵After they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among themselves by casting lots. ³⁶Then they sat down and were keeping watch over him there. ³⁷Above his head they posted the written charge against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”

³⁸At the same time two criminals were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left. ³⁹People who passed by kept insulting him, shaking their heads ⁴⁰and saying, “You who were 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, experts in the law, and elders kept mocking him. They said, ⁴²“He saved others, but he cannot save himself. If he’s the King of Israel, let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ⁴³He trusts in God. Let God rescue him now, if he wants him, because he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ⁴⁴In the same way even the criminals who were crucified with him kept insulting him.

⁴⁵From the sixth hour until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land. ⁴⁶About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

⁴⁷When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “This fellow is calling for Elijah.”

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, and soaked it with sour wine. Then he put it on a stick and gave him a drink. ⁴⁹The rest said, “Leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.”

⁵⁰After Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. ⁵¹Suddenly, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and rocks were split. ⁵²Tombs were opened, and many bodies of saints who had fallen asleep were raised to life. ⁵³Those who came out of the tombs went into the holy city after Jesus’ resurrection and appeared to many people. ⁵⁴When the centurion and those who were guarding Jesus with him saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

⁵⁵Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and who had served him were there, watching from a distance. ⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.

⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. He rolled a large stone over the tomb’s entrance and left. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶²On the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees gathered in the presence of Pilate ⁶³and said, “Sir, we remembered what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’ ⁶⁴So give a command that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise his disciples might steal his body and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead.’ And this 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.” ⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and posting a guard.

or 

John 12:20-43

²⁰Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Festival. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went to tell Andrew. Andrew came with Philip and told Jesus.

²³Jesus answered them, “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it continues to be one kernel. But if it dies, it produces much grain. ²⁵Anyone who loves his life destroys it. And the one who hates his life in this world will hold on to it for eternal life. ²⁶If anyone serves me, let him follow me. And where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, this is the reason I came to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name!”

A voice came from heaven: “I have glorified my name, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said it thundered. Others said an angel talked to him. ³⁰Jesus answered, “This voice was not for my sake but for yours.

³¹“Now is the judgment of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ³³He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.

³⁴The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Scriptures that the Christ will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “The light will be with you just a little while longer. Keep on walking while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. ³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.”

Jesus spoke these words, and then went away and was hidden from them.

³⁷Even though Jesus had done so many miraculous signs in their presence, they still did not believe in him. ³⁸This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said:

Lord, who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

³⁹For this reason they could not believe, because Isaiah also said:

⁴⁰He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their heart,

so that they would not see with their eyes,

or understand with their heart,

or turn—and I would heal them.

⁴¹Isaiah said these things when he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

⁴²Nevertheless, even many of the rulers believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing him, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. ⁴³For they loved praise from people more than praise from God.

³Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

He got up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He set up twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵He sent young Israelite men, who offered whole burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings of cattle to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and he splashed half of the blood on the altar. ⁷He took the Book of the Covenant and read it out loud to the people and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do. We will obey.”

⁸Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people. He said, “Look, here is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord made with you by means of all these words.”

⁹Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. ¹⁰They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet they saw what looked like a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky. ¹¹The Lord did not lay his hand on the dignitaries of the people of Israel. They gazed at God, and they ate and drank.

or

Exodus 12:1-14

The Lord told Moses and Aaron this in the land of Egypt:

²This month is to be the beginning of your calendar. It is to be the first month of the year for you. ³Tell the entire Israelite community that on the tenth day of this month, they are to take a lamb or a kid goat for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, one lamb per household. ⁴But if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then that person and his neighbor next door to him must select one, based on the number of people. Determine what size lamb is needed according to how much each person will eat.

⁵Your lamb must be unblemished, a year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole assembly of the Israelite community is to slaughter the lambs at sunset. ⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb. ⁸That night they shall eat the meat that has been roasted over a fire, along with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. ⁹Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over a fire—with its head, its legs, and its internal organs. ¹⁰You shall not leave any of it until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning, you shall burn in the fire. ¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt ready for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²For on that night I will pass through the land of Egypt. I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. ¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. There will be no plague among you to destroy you, when I strike down the land of Egypt.

¹⁴This day shall be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. Throughout your generations you must celebrate it as a permanent regulation.

¹¹But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that were coming, he went through the greater and more complete tent, which was not made by human hands (that is, it is not part of this creation). ¹²He entered once into the Most Holy Place and obtained eternal redemption, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. ¹³Now if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who were unclean, sanctifies them so that their flesh is clean, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works, so that we worship the living God?

¹⁵For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance. ¹⁶For where a will exists, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made the will. ¹⁷For a will takes effect at the time of death, since it is never in force when the one who made the will is still living.

¹⁸For this reason, the first covenant was not ratified without blood. ¹⁹Indeed, after every command was spoken by Moses to all the people, in accordance with the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water and scarlet wool and a hyssop branch, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people. ²⁰He said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God established for you.” ²¹In the same way he sprinkled blood on the tent and all the objects for worship. ²²And nearly everything is cleansed with blood according to the law. And, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

or

1 Corinthians 11:23-32

²³For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way, after the meal, he also took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸Instead, let a person examine himself and after doing so, let him eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ⁹For if anyone eats and drinks in an unworthy way because he does not recognize the Lord’s body, he eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰Because of this, many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few have fallen asleep. ³¹But if we judged ourselves, we would not be undergoing judgment. ³²However, when we undergo judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord so that we may not be condemned with the world.

¹⁷On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹⁸He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him the Teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will observe the Passover with my disciples at your house.’”

¹⁹The disciples did as Jesus commanded them and prepared the Passover. ²⁰When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.

²¹As they were eating, he said, “Amen I tell you: One of you will betray me.”

²²They were very sad and began to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I, Lord?”

²³He replied, “The one who dipped his hand in the bowl with me will betray me. ²⁴The Son of Man is going just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”

²⁵Judas, who betrayed him, replied, “Surely, not I, Rabbi?”

He said to him, “Yes, you are the one.”

²⁶While they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples. He said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” ²⁷Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it all of you, ²⁸for this is my blood of the new testament, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. ²⁹I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” ³⁰After they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

or

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end.

²By the time the supper took place, the Devil had already put the idea into the heart of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

³Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God. ⁴He got up from the supper and laid aside his outer garment. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷Jesus answered him, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but later you will understand.”

⁸Peter told him, “You will never, ever, wash my feet!”

Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹“Lord, not just my feet,” Simon Peter replied, “but also my hands and my head!”

¹⁰Jesus told him, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet, but his body is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹Indeed, he knew who was going to betray him. That is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²After Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer garment, he reclined at the table again. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³“You call me Teacher and Lord. You are right, because I am. ¹⁴Now if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵Yes, I have given you an example so that you also would do just as I have done for you. ¹⁶Amen, Amen, I tell you: A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

^31bJesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once.”

³³“Dear children, I am going to be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.

³⁴“A new commandment I give you: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you are to love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

¹³Look, my servant will succeed.

He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at him—

his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man,

and his form was disfigured more than any other person—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations,

and kings will shut their mouths because of him,

because they will see something they had never been told before,

and they will understand something they had never heard before.

^53:1Who has believed our report,

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

²He grew up before him like a tender shoot

and like a root from dry ground.

He had no attractiveness and no majesty.

When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

a man who knew grief,

who was well acquainted with suffering.

Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at,

he was despised,

and we thought nothing of him.

⁴Surely he was taking up our weaknesses,

and he was carrying our sufferings.

We thought it was because of God

that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted,

⁵but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.

He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶We all have gone astray like sheep.

Each of us has turned to his own way,

but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth.

Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that is silent in front of its shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

⁸He was taken away without a fair trial and without justice,

and of his generation, who even cared?

So, he was cut off from the land of the living.

He was struck because of the rebellion of my people.

⁹They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked,

but he was given a grave with the rich in his death,

because he had done no violence,

and no deceit was in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him

and to allow him to suffer.

Because you made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring.

He will prolong his days,

and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.

¹¹After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life.

He will provide satisfaction.

Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many,

for he himself carried their guilt.

¹²Therefore I will give him an allotment among the great,

and with the strong he will share plunder,

because he poured out his life to death,

and he let himself be counted with rebellious sinners.

He himself carried the sin of many,

and he intercedes for the rebels.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, namely, Jesus the Son of God, let us continue to hold on to our confession. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

^5:7In the days of his flesh, he offered prayers and pleas with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. ⁹After he was brought to his goal, he became the source of eternal salvation for everyone who obeys him, ¹⁰because he was designated by God as a high priest, like Melchizedek.

After saying these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden. He and his disciples went into it.

²Now Judas, who was betraying him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. ³So Judas took the company of soldiers and some guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵“Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus told them.

Judas, the betrayer, was standing with them. ⁶When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they backed away and fell to the ground.

⁷Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”

“Jesus the Nazarene,” they said.

⁸“I told you that I am he,” Jesus replied. “So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” ⁹This was to fulfill the statement he had spoken: “I did not lose any of those you have given me.”

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

¹¹So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me?”

¹²Then the company of soldiers, their commander, and the Jewish guards arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³First they led him to Annas, because he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. ¹⁴Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews, “It is better that one man die for the people.”

¹⁵Simon Peter and another disciple kept following Jesus. That disciple was known to the high priest, so he went into the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. ¹⁶But Peter stood outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and talked to the girl watching the door and brought Peter in.

¹⁷“You are not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter.

“I am not!” he said.

¹⁸The servants and guards were standing around a fire of coals that they had made because it was cold. While they warmed themselves, Peter was standing with them, warming himself too.

¹⁹The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

²⁰Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in a synagogue or at the temple, where all the Jews gather. I said nothing in secret. ²¹Why are you questioning me? Ask those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.”

²²When he said this, one of the guards standing there hit Jesus in the face. “Is that how you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

²³“If I said something wrong,” Jesus answered, “testify about what was wrong. But if I was right, why did you hit me?”

²⁴Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵Simon Peter continued to stand there warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples too, are you?”

He denied it, saying, “I am not!”

²⁶One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”

²⁷Peter denied it again, and just then a rooster crowed.

²⁸Early in the morning, the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. They did not enter the Praetorium themselves, so that they would not become ceremonially unclean. (They wanted to be able to eat the Passover meal.) ²⁹So Pilate went out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰They answered him, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.”

The Jews said, “It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death.” ³²This happened so that the statement Jesus had spoken indicating what kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

³³Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷“You are a king then?” Pilate asked.

Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸“What is truth?” Pilate said to him.

After he said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the King of the Jews for you?”

⁴⁰Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a rebel.)

^19:1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on his head. Then they threw a purple robe around him. ³They kept coming to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they kept hitting him in the face.

⁴Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁵So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

⁶When the chief priests and guards saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. ⁹He went back inside the palace again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?”

But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰So Pilate asked him, “Are you not talking to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you or to crucify you?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me at all if it had not been given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

¹²From then on Pilate tried to release Jesus. But the Jews shouted, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar!”

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, or Gabbatha in Aramaic. ¹⁴It was about the sixth hour on the Preparation Day for the Passover. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”

¹⁵They shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”

“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶So then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus away. ¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

They divided my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

So the soldiers did these things.

²⁵Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

³¹Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses over the Sabbath (because that Sabbath was a particularly important day). They asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and the bodies taken away. ³²So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who was crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other man.

³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶Indeed, these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” ³⁷Again another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.”

³⁸After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave him permission, he came and took Jesus’ body away. ³⁹Nicodemus, who earlier had come to Jesus at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-two pounds.

⁴⁰They took Jesus’ body and bound it with linen strips along with the spices, in accord with Jewish burial customs.

⁴¹There was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified. And in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²So they laid Jesus there, because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was near.

or

John 19:17-30

¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

They divided my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

So the soldiers did these things.

²⁵Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.