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Chapter 10—Cruel Crucifixion
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and
sat on the judge’s bench at a place called The Stone Pavement,
or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for
the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, “Here
is your King!” They cried out, “Away with him! Away with him!
Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The
chief priests answered, “We have no king but the emperor.” Then
he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus;
and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The
Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they
crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus
between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the
cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of
the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was
crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin,
and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do
not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘This man said, I am King of
the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and
divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his
tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.
So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to
see who will get it.” This was to fulfill what the scripture says, “They
divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast
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lots.” And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near
the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the
wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his
mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to the disciple,
“Here is your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into
his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished,
he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” A jar full of
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