14. He said to them, “You brought this man to me, saying he makes trouble among the people. But I have questioned him before you all, and I have not found him guilty of what you say.
15. Also, Herod found nothing wrong with him; he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing for which he should die.
16. So, after I punish him, I will let him go free.” [
17. Every year at the Passover Feast, Pilate had to release one prisoner to the people.]
18. But the people shouted together, “Take this man away! Let Barabbas go free!”
19. (Barabbas was a man who was in prison for his part in a riot in the city and for murder.)
20. Pilate wanted to let Jesus go free and told this to the crowd.
21. But they shouted again, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
22. A third time Pilate said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I can find no reason to kill him. So I will have him punished and set him free.”
23. But they continued to shout, demanding that Jesus be crucified. Their yelling became so loud that
24. Pilate decided to give them what they wanted.
25. He set free the man who was in jail for rioting and murder, and he handed Jesus over to them to do with him as they wished.
26. As they led Jesus away, Simon, a man from Cyrene, was coming in from the fields. They forced him to carry Jesus’ cross and to walk behind him.
27. A large crowd of people was following Jesus, including some women who were sad and crying for him.
28. But Jesus turned and said to them, “Women of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children.
29. The time is coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the women who cannot have children and who have no babies to nurse.’
30. Then people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ And they will say to the hills, ‘Cover us!’