Chapter XXI: Christ's Crucifixion, Death, and Burial

1 [19:17]THEN they took Jesus, and putting the cross on him he went out to what is called the place of a cranium, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha, [19:18] where they crucified him, and two others with him, one on one side and the other on the other, and Jesus between. [19:19]And Pilate wrote an inscription and put on the cross. And it was written, JESUS THE NAZORAEAN, THE KING OF THE JEWS. [19:20]Many of the Jews therefore read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. [19:21]Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews. [19:22]Pilate answered, what I have written I have written.

2 [19:23]Then the soldiers, when they crucified Jesus, took his clothes and made four parts, a part to each soldier, and his coat. But his coat was without seam, woven from the top through the whole. [19:24]They said, therefore, one to another, Let us not divide this, but cast lots for it whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They parted my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots. The soldiers therefore did indeed these things.

3 [19:25]And there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and the sister of his mother, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary the Magdalene. [19:26]Then Jesus seeing his mother, and the disciple standing by whom he loved, said to his mother, Woman, behold your son. [19:27]Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own [house].

4 [19:28]After this, Jesus knowing that all things were already finished, that the Scripture might be fully accomplished, said, I thirst. [19:29]Then a vessel was set full of vinegar; and filling a sponge with vinegar, and putting it on a hyssop stalk, they presented it to his mouth. [19:30]When therefore Jesus took the vinegar, he said, It is finished; and inclining his head gave up the spirit.

5 [19:31]Then the Jews, that the bodies might not continue on the cross on the sabbath, for it was the preparation, for that was a great sabbath, asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and they be taken down. [19:32]Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other crucified with him, [19:33]and coming to Jesus, when they saw him already dead, they broke not his legs; [19:34]but one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water. [19:35]He who saw has testified, and his testimony is true, for he knows that he says what is true, that you also may believe. [19:36]For these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Not a bone of him shall be broken; [19:37]and again another Scripture says, They shall look on him whom they have pierced.

6 [19:38]After these things Joseph from Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take down the body of Jesus; and Pilate permitted him. Then he came and took his body. [19:39]And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. [19:40]Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it with bandages, with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to prepare for burial. [19:41]And there was in the place where he was crucified a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one was yet laid. [19:42]In that therefore they laid Jesus, on account of the preparation of the Jews, because the tomb was near.