Section LI

Section LI.

[1] [Arabic, p. 192] 3533 And when Pilate heard this saying, he took Jesus out, and sat on the tribune in the place which was called the pavement of stones, but in the Hebrew [2] called Gabbatha. 3534 And that day was the Friday of the passover: and it had reached [3] about the sixth hour. 3535 3536 And he said to the Jews, Behold, your King! And they cried out, Take him, take him, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests said unto him, We have no king except [4] Cæsar. 3537 And Pilate, when he saw it, and 3538 he was gaining nothing, but the tumult p. 122 was increasing, took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, and said, I [5] am innocent of the blood of this innocent man: ye shall know. 3539 3540 And all the people [6] answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. 3541 Then Pilate commanded to grant them their request; and delivered up Jesus to be crucified, according to their wish.

[7] 3542 Then Judas the betrayer, when he saw Jesus wronged, went and returned the [8] thirty pieces of money to the chief priests and the elders, 3543 and said, I have sinned in my betraying innocent blood. And they said unto him, And we, what must we do? [9] know thou. 3544 And he threw down the money in the temple, and departed; and he [10] went away 3545 and hanged 3546 himself. 3547 And the chief priests took the money, and said, We have not authority to cast it into the place of the offering, 3548 for it is the price [11] of blood. 3549 And they took counsel, and bought with it the plain of the potter, for [12] the burial of strangers. 3550 Therefore that plain was called, The field of blood, unto [13] [Arabic, p. 193] this day. 3551 Therein 3552 was fulfilled the saying in the prophet which said, I took thirty pieces of money, the price of the precious one, which was fixed [14] by the children of Israel; 3553 and I paid them for the plain of the potter, as the Lord commanded me.

[15] 3554 And the Jews took Jesus, and went away to crucify him. 3555 And when he bare his [16] cross and went out, they stripped him of those purple and scarlet garments which he [17] had on, and put on him his own garments. 3556 And while they were going with him, they found a man, a Cyrenian, coming from the country, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus: 3557 and they compelled this man to bear the cross of Jesus. [18] 3558 And they took the cross and laid it upon him, that he might bear it, and come after Jesus; and Jesus went, and his cross behind him.

[19] 3559 And there followed him much people, and women which were lamenting and [20] raving. 3560 3561 But Jesus turned unto them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not [21] for me: weep for yourselves, and for your children. 3562 Days are coming, when they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that bare not, and the breasts [22] that gave not suck. 3563 Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and [23] to the hills, Cover us. 3564 For if they do so in the green tree, 3565 what shall be in the dry?

[24] 3566 And they brought with Jesus two others of the malefactors, 3567 to be put to death.

[25] 3568 And when they came unto a certain place called The skull, and called in the Hebrew Golgotha, they crucified him there: 3569 they crucified with him these two [26] malefactors, one on his right, and the other on his left. 3570 And the scripture was [27] [Arabic, p. 194] fulfilled, which saith, He was numbered with the transgressors. 3571 And they gave him to drink wine and myrrh, and vinegar which had been mixed with the myrrh; 3572 and he tasted, and would not drink; and he received it not.

[28] 3573 And the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and cast lots for them in four parts, to every party of the soldiers a part; and his tunic was [29] without sewing, from the top woven throughout. 3574 And they said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith,

They divided my garments among them,

And cast the lot for my vesture.

[30, 31] 3575 This the soldiers did. And they sat and guarded him there. 3576 And Pilate wrote on a tablet the cause of his death, and put it on the wood of the cross above his head. 3577 And there was written upon it thus: This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the [32] Jews. 3578 And this tablet 3579 read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city: and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. [33] 3580 And the chief priests said unto Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, He it is [34] that 3581 said, I am the King of the Jews. 3582 Pilate said unto them, What hath been [35] written hath been written. 3583 3584 And the people were standing beholding; and they p. 123 [36] that passed by were reviling 3585 him, and shaking 3586 their heads, and saying, 3587 Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, 3588 save thyself if thou art the Son [37] of God, and come down from the cross. 3589 And in like manner the chief priests and the [Arabic, p. 195] scribes and the elders and the Pharisees derided him, and laughed one with [38, 39] another, and said, 3590 The saviour of others cannot save himself. 3591 If he is the Messiah, the chosen of God, and the King of Israel, 3592 let him come down now from the [40] cross, that we may see, and believe in him. 3593 He that relieth on God—let him deliver him [41] now, if he is pleased with him: for he said, I am the Son of God. 3594 And the soldiers [42] also scoffed at him in that they came near unto him, 3595 and brought him vinegar, and [43] said unto him, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself. 3596 And likewise the two robbers 3597 also that were crucified with him reproached him.

[44] 3598 And one of those two malefactors who were crucified with him reviled him, and [45] said, If thou art the Messiah, save thyself, and save us also. 3599 But his comrade rebuked him, and said, Dost thou not even fear God, being thyself also in this [46] condemnation? 3600 And we with justice, and as we deserved, and according to our deed, 3601 have we been rewarded: but this man hath not done anything unlawful. [47] 3602 And he said unto Jesus, Remember me, my Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom. [48] 3603 Jesus said unto him, Verily 3604 I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

[49] 3605 And there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, 3606 [50] Mary 3607 that was related to Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 3608 And Jesus saw his mother, and that disciple whom he loved standing by; and he said to his mother, [51] Woman, behold, thy son! 3609 And he said to that disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto himself.

[52] [Arabic, p. 196] 3610 And from the sixth hour 3611 darkness was on all the land unto the ninth [53] hour, 3612 and the sun became dark. 3613 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and said, Yail, Yaili, 3614 why hast thou forsaken me? which 3615 is, My [54] God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 3616 And some of those that stood there, when they heard, said, 3617 This man called Elijah.

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