Open English Translation MAT Chapter 27

27 By now it was early morning, and all the chief priests and local elders discussed and agreed on their plans to have Yeshua put to death 2 then they tied his arms and led him away to be handed over to Pilate, the Roman governor.

3 [ref]When Yudas, the one who had turned him in) saw that he was being sentenced to death, he regretted his actions and returned the payment to the chief priests and elders 4 saying, “I’ve sinned and turned in an innocent man.”

“What’s that got to do with us?” they asked. “You sort out your own problems.”

5 Then Yudas threw the money down on the temple floor and went off and hanged himself.

6 The chief priests took the money and decided, “We can’t legally deposit the money to the temple treasury because it’s blood money.” 7 They got advice and decided to buy the potter’s field that was for sale to make it a cemetery for people from out of town, 8 so that place got called ‘The field of blood’ until today.

9 [ref]And so the message which had been written by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, ‘They took the thirty silver coins, the price of the one who was sold, the price set by the Israelites, 10 and they gave the coins for the potter’s field, as the master directed me.’

11 Meanwhile Yeshua was stood in front of the governor and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You said it,”, responded Yeshua, 12 but when he chief priests and the elders brought their accusations against him, he didn’t say anything.

13 Then Pilate asked him, “Can’t you hear all the evidence against you that they’re listing?”

14 But he didn’t respond, not even a single word, and this greatly surprised the governor.

15 It was the time of the Passover celebrations, and a tradition had been established that the governor would release one prisoner to the people—whoever they chose. 16 At that time, there was a well-known prisoner named Barabbas, 17 so when all the people had gathered, Pilate shouted down to them, “Who would you all like me to release: Barabbas or Yeshua who’s also being called the messiah?” 18 He said this because he knew that Yeshua had been arrested because of the jealousy of the Jewish leaders.

19 But while Pilate was still making his judgement, his wife sent a note to him, saying, “Don’t touch that guiltless man because I was very distressed by a dream I had about him.”

20 Meanwhile the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to request that Barabbas be released and that Yeshua should be sentenced, 21 so when the governor asked them, “Which of these two men should I release?” they called back, “Barabbas.”

22 “So what should I do to Yeshua who’s called the messiah?” Pilate asked.

“Execute him on a stake!” they all responded.

23 “But what crime has he done?” demanded Pilate.

But they just kept yelling loudly, “Execute him on a stake.”

24 [ref]When Pilate saw that it was going nowhere other than to turn into a riot, got a bowl of water and washed his hands up there in front of the crowd, announcing, “I’m innocent of the blood of this man who has done nothing wrong. It’s your responsibility now.”

25 “The responsibility for his blood will be on us and on our children,” the people shouted back.

26 Then Pilate commanded that Barabbas be released. He commanded that Yeshua be flogged and then he handed him over to be executed.

27 The governor’s soldiers took Yeshua to the courtyard of his residence and called together all the soldiers in the unit. 28 Then they stripped Yeshua and placed a royal scarlet robe around him. 29 They twisted together a crown made of strips of thorns and plonked it on his head and made him hold a reed as a staff. Then they knelt down in front of him and mocked him, saying, “Greetings, O king of the Jews.” 30 They spat on him then snatched the reed away and used it to whack him on the head. 31 When they’d finished mocking him, they took the robe off him and dressed him in his own clothes again before they led him away to the place where he’d be executed.

32 When they got out onto the street, they grabbed a man who turned out to be Simon from Cyrene, and they forced him to carry the stake. 33 When they arrived at the place called Golgotha (which means ‘Place of the skull’), 34 [ref]they gave Yeshua some wine mixed with something bitter, but when he tasted it, he didn’t want to drink any.

35 [ref]Then they executed him on the stake and divided his clothes out by throwing dice 36 as they sat there guarding him. 37 They put a sign above his head that said, ‘This is Yeshua, the king of the Jews.’ 38 Two robbers were also executed on stakes—one on his right and one on his left.[fn]

39 [ref]Many of the people passing by bad-mouthed him, shaking their heads 40 [ref]and saying, “Ha, you reckoned you could demolish the temple and rebuild it in three days so save yourself now—if you’re really God’s son, just step down off that stake.”

41 Similarly, the chief priests and the religious teachers and the elders mocked him saying, 42 “Ha, he saved others but he can’t even save himself. If he’s Israel’s king, let him come down now from the stake and then we’ll believe in him. 43 [ref]He put his trust in God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him, because he did claim to be God’s son.”

44 Even the robbers who were being executed beside him derided him.

45 Around noon, the whole country became dark for three hours 46 [ref]and then around 3pm, Yeshua shouted with a loud voice, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”

47 Some of the people standing there heard him and thought that he was calling Eliyah[fn] 48 [ref]One of them ran and got a sponge and dipped it in wine vinegar, and then wrapped it around a reed and held it up to his mouth to drink from.

49 But the others were saying, “Just leave him and we’ll see whether Eliyah comes to save him.”

50 Then Yeshua made a loud cry and sent his spirit away.

51 [ref]Then, wow, the curtain inside the temple was torn apart from the top to the bottom, and there was an earthquake and splitting of rocks. 52 Some tombs came open and many bodies of godly people came alive again 53 and leaving the tombs after his resurrection, they went into God’s city where many people saw them.

54 The Roman officer and his soldiers who were guarding Yeshua were very frightened when they felt the earthquake and saw what happened, and said, “This man really was a son of God!”

55 [ref]There were many women watching all this from a distance—they were those who from Galilee who had followed Yeshua and looked after him, 56 including Maria from Magdala, Maria the mother of Yacob and Yosef, and Zebedee’s wife—the mother of Yacob and Yohan.

57 As it moved into evening, a wealthy man named Yosef from Arimathea came—he’d also been one of Yeshua’s trainees. 58 He went to Pilate and requested Yeshua’s body, and Pilate commanded the soldiers to release it. 59 Yosef took the body and wrapped it in clean, linen cloth 60 and put it in his own tomb which had been newly carved into the rock. They he rolled a big stone into the door of the tomb and left it. 61 Maria from Magdala and the other Maria sat there in front of the tomb.

62 The next day was the day after the Passover preparation day and the chief priests and the Pharisees went together to Pilate 63 [ref]and told him, “Master, we were reminded that that deceiver when he was still alive said that he would come back to life after three days 64 so you should command that the tomb be secured until the third day in case someone steals his body and then tells the people that he has come alive again—that would be a worse deception that his initial teachings.”

65 “Well you all guard it,” answered Pilate, “and keep it secure as you say.”

66 So they went and secured the tomb by sealing it and placing guards there.