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Mark 15

1Immediately, early in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. 2Pilate questioned him: “Are you the king of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” 3The chief priests accused him of many things. 4Pilate questioned him again: “Do you answer nothing? Look how many charges they bring against you.” 5But Jesus answered nothing further, so that Pilate was amazed.

6At the festival he would release to them one prisoner whom they requested. 7A man called Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the rebellion. 8The crowd came up and began to ask him to do as he usually did for them. 9Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” 10For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy. 11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead. 12Pilate again answered them, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” 13They shouted again, “Crucify him!” 14Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” 15Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. After having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.

16The soldiers led him inside the courtyard—that is, the governor's headquarters—and called together the whole cohort. 17They clothed him in purple, wove a crown of thorns, and put it on him. 18They began to greet him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” 19They struck his head with a reed, spat on him, and knelt down in homage to him. 20When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the purple and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

21They pressed into service a passerby coming from the countryside, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22They brought him to the place Golgotha, which is translated “Place of a Skull.” 23They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24They crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide who would take what. 25It was the third hour when they crucified him. 26The inscription of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.” 27With him they crucified two robbers, one at his right and one at his left.

29Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who tear down the sanctuary and build it in three days, 30save yourself and come down from the cross!” 31Likewise the chief priests, mocking him among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Messiah, the king of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also insulted him.

33When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 35Some of those standing nearby heard it and said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.” 36Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink, saying, “Leave him; let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down.” 37But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last. 38The curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. 39When the centurion standing opposite him saw that he breathed his last in this way, he said, “Truly this man was God's Son.”

40There were also women watching from a distance, among them Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Little and Joses, and Salome. 41When he was in Galilee, they had followed him and served him. There were also many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

42Evening had already come. Since it was Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went in to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. 44Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He summoned the centurion and asked him whether he had been dead for some time. 45When he learned it from the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb cut out of rock. He rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid.

Translation notes 5

14:58, 62; 15:38 — Sanctuary and divine titles. “Sanctuary” translates naos, distinguishing it from the broader temple precincts. “The Blessed One” and “the Power” are reverential ways of referring to God. The image of sitting at the right hand is retained.

15:25, 33 — Hours and land. The third, sixth, and ninth hours correspond approximately to 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m., using daylight reckoning. “The whole land” can also be rendered “the whole earth.” The translation does not resolve the darkness's geographical extent.

15:28 — Numbering gap. Some witnesses add: “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘And he was counted with the lawless.’” The base does not include this verse in its main text.

15:34, 39 — Forsaken; God's Son. The cry quotes Psalm 22:1, without replacing its anguish with the psalm's later resolution. “God's Son” expresses the centurion's words in their narrative setting. The absence of a Greek definite article does not automatically require “a son of a god,” and the sentence does not tell us the full extent of the centurion's understanding.

15:40, 45 — Little; corpse. James's designation can concern size or relative age; “the younger” is common but more specific. “The Little” leaves that open. At verse 45 Mark uses a word for a corpse, distinct from “body” in verse 43.