Marcus: Chapter 15

Then in the morning the archpriests, with the elders and scholars and the whole council, having made [their] recommendation, bind Yoshua and carry him away to Pilatus. Pilatus questions him — You are the king of the Youdaians?

He answers — You say [it].

The archpriests denounce him vehemently. Pilatus questions him again, saying — Do you answer nothing? See how much they denounce you. Yoshua answers not one more thing, and Pilatus is amazed.

At each festival he releases one prisoner to them, whom[ever] they ask [for]. There was one named Bar-Abbas,1 shackled with those insurgents who had committed murder in the insurgency. The crowd, coming up, begins to beg [him] to do for them as he had done [before].

But Pilatus answers them, saying — Do you wish [me] to release to you the king of the Youdaians? For he realizes that the archpriests had rendered him out of spite. But the archpriests incite the crowd [to ask] him to release Bar-Abbas to them instead. In response, Pilatus says — What then shall I do with him you call the king of the Youdaians?

They cry out again — Impale him!

Pilatus says to them — What evil has he done?

But they cry out even more — Impale him!

Pilatus, wishing to placate the crowd, releases Bar-Abbas to them, and, flogging him, renders Yoshua to be impaled. The soldiers lead him away into the courtyard which is the Praetorium, and call together the whole unit. They put porphyry2 [clothes] on him, and, plaiting a crown from thorns, put it on him. They begin to hail him — Rejoice, king of the Youdaians!

They strike his head with a cane, and spit on him, and bending their knees they worship him. When they have mocked him, they strip the porphyry from him, and put his own cloak on him. And they lead him out to impale him.

They force a passer-by coming from the countryside, one Shimon of Kyrene, the father of Alexandros and Rufus, to carry his stake. They bring him to the place of Gul Galta, which is translated the Place of Skulls. They give him myrrh-flavored wine, but he does not take it.

They impale him, and divide his clothes, drawing lots for them, for who should take what.

They impale him, at the third hour.3 [On] the inscription of his conviction is inscribed, The King of the Youdaians.

They impale him, and with him they impale two bandits, one on the right and one on his left.

Passers-by curse him, shaking their heads and saying — Ah! [The one] who [would] destroy the temple and build it in three days. Come down from the stake and rescue yourself!

Likewise, the archpriests, mocking [him] among themselves, along with the scholars, say — He rescued others; himself he cannot rescue. O Chosen One, the King of Yisroel, come down now from the stake, so that we will see him and trust him.

Those who were impaled with him berate him.

Come the sixth hour, darkness comes over the whole earth, until the ninth hour. In the ninth hour, Yoshua shouts with a great voice — Elahi, elahi, limaa shebaqtani? which is translated — My God, my God, why do you abandon me?

Some [of those] standing there, hearing, say — Listen, he calls Elias.

One [of them] runs and soaks a sponge in sour wine, and putting it on a cane for him to drink, saying — Leave him [alone]. See if Elias comes to take him down.

But Yoshua, uttering a loud sound, breathes [his last]. And the curtain of the temple is split in two, from top to bottom.

The captain, standing opposite him, seeing him breathe out thus, says — Truly this person is divine!

There are also women watching from a distance, among whom are Maryam of Magdala, Marya the mother of Yaakov the younger and Yoses, and Salome, who, when he was in Galilaia, followed him and served him, and many others who came up with him to Yerushalem.

Come evening, since it was the [day of] preparation, that is, the pre-Shabbat, comes Yosef of Arimathaia, a decent man and councillor, who himself also awaits the kingdom of God. He boldly goes to Pilatus, and requests the body of Yoshua. Pilatus, wondering if he is already dead, calls the captain, and asks him if he is already dead. Learning [so] from the captain, he grants the corpse to Yosef.

He buys a linen [sheet], and taking him down, he wraps [him] in the linen and places him in a mausoleum that was quarried out of rock, and rolls a stone up to the entrance to the tomb.

Marya of Magdala and Marya [the mother] of Yoses observe where he is placed.

Chapter 16

  1. ‘Son of his father,’ i.e. ‘Bastard.’
  2. Purple; reserved for royalty.
  3. The third hour after sunrise.