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Chapter 23
1Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate.
2And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ,Or Messiah; also in verses 35 and 39 a king.”
3So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
“Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied.
4Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
5But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over JudeaOr over the land of the Jews by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.”
6On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.
7When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.
8When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle.
9He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.
10The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him.
11Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.
12That day Herod and Pilate became friends–before this they had been enemies.
13Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people,
14and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.
15Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.
16Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”Some manuscripts him.” 17 Now he was obliged to release one man to them at the Feast.
17
18With one voice they cried out, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!”
19(Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
20Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again.
21But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
22For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”
23But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.
24So Pilate decided to grant their demand.
25He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.
The Crucifixion
26As they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.
27A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.
28Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.
29For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’
30Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’Hosea 10:8
31For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.
33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals–one on his right, the other on his left.
34Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”Some early manuscripts do not have this sentence. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
35The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
36The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar
37and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”
38There was a written notice above him, which read: This is the King of the Jews.
39One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
40But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don't you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?
41We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
42Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.Some manuscripts come with your kingly power”
43Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Jesus' Death
44It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour,
45for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
46Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
47The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.”
48When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.
49But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
Jesus' Burial
50Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,
51who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.
52Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body.
53Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
54It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
55The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.
56Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Chapter 24
The Resurrection
1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.
2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.
5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?
6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:
7‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’”
8Then they remembered his words.
9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.
10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.
12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
On the Road to Emmaus
13Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven milesGreek sixty stadia (about 11 kilometers) from Jerusalem.
14They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.
15As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;
16but they were kept from recognizing him.
17He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”
They stood still, their faces downcast.
18One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19“What things?” he asked.
“About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.
20The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;
21but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.
22In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning
23but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.
24Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
25He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26Did not the ChristOr Messiah; also in verse 46 have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”
27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
28As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther.
29But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.
31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.
32They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
33They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together
34and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”
35Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
36While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
37They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.
38He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?
39Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
40When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.
41And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
42They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
43and he took it and ate it in their presence.
44He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
45Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
46He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48You are witnesses of these things.
49I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
The Ascension
50When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.
51While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven.
52Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
53And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.
John
Chapter 1
The Word Became Flesh
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was with God in the beginning.
3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
5The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understoodOr darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John.
7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe.
8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.Or This was the true light that gives light to every man who comes into the world
10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God–
13children born not of natural descent,Greek of bloods nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,Or the Only Begotten who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”
16From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,Or the Only Begotten,Some manuscripts but the only (or only begotten) Son who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
John the Baptist Denies Being the Christ
19Now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.
20He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Christ.Or Messiah. “The Christ” (Greek) and “the Messiah” (Hebrew) both mean “the Anointed One”; also in verse 25.”
21They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
22Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”Isaiah 40:3
24Now some Pharisees who had been sent
25questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26“I baptize withOr in; also in verses 31 and 33 water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.
27He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Jesus the Lamb of God
29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
33I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
34I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”
Jesus' First Disciples
35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39“Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
40Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.
41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).
42And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is PeterBoth Cephas (Aramaic) and Peter (Greek) mean rock.).
Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.
45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote–Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
46“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked.
“Come and see,” said Philip.
47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”
48“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.”
50Jesus said, “You believeOr Do you believe ...? because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that.”
51He then added, “I tell youThe Greek is plural. the truth, youThe Greek is plural. shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

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