14. It was now almost noon on Preparation day of Passover week. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”
15. They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Kill him on a cross!” Pilate asked them, “Do you want me to kill your king on a cross?” The leading priests answered, “The only king we have is Caesar!”
16. So Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be killed on a cross. The soldiers took Jesus.
17. He carried his own cross to a place called “The Place of the Skull.” (In Aramaic the name of this place is “Golgotha.”)
18. There they nailed Jesus to the cross. They also nailed two other men to crosses. They put them on each side of Jesus with him in the middle.
19. Pilate told them to write a sign and put it on the cross. The sign said, “jesus of nazareth, the king of the jews.”
20. The sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was nailed to the cross was near the city.
21. The leading Jewish priests said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews.’ But write, ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews.’”
22. Pilate answered, “I will not change what I have written.”
23. After the soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts. Each soldier got one part. They also took his tunic. It was all one piece of cloth woven from top to bottom.
24. So the soldiers said to each other, “We should not tear this into parts. Let’s throw lots to see who will get it.” This happened to make clear the full meaning of what the Scriptures say: “They divided my clothes among them, and they threw lots for what I was wearing.” Psalm 22:18 So the soldiers did this.