15. Pilate wanted to please the crowd. So he set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.
16. The soldiers led Jesus inside the courtyard of the fortress and called together the rest of the troops.
17. They put a purple robe on him, and on his head they placed a crown that they had made out of thorn branches.
18. They made fun of Jesus and shouted, “Hey, you king of the Jews!”
19. Then they beat him on the head with a stick. They spat on him and knelt down and pretended to worship him.
20. When the soldiers had finished making fun of Jesus, they took off the purple robe. They put his own clothes back on him and led him off to be nailed to a cross.
21. Simon from Cyrene happened to be coming in from a farm, and they forced him to carry Jesus' cross. Simon was the father of Alexander and Rufus.
22. The soldiers took Jesus to Golgotha, which means “Place of a Skull”.
23. There they gave him some wine mixed with a drug to ease the pain, but he refused to drink it.
24. They nailed Jesus to a cross and gambled to see who would get his clothes.
25. It was about nine o'clock in the morning when they nailed him to the cross.
26. On it was a sign that told why he was nailed there. It read, “This is the King of the Jews.”
27-28. The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.
29. People who passed by said terrible things about Jesus. They shook their heads and shouted, “Ha! So you're the one who claimed you could tear down the temple and build it again in three days.