King of the Jews

John 19:16b-30

Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross

The soldiers took Jesus. ¹⁷ He carried his own cross to a place called “The Place of the Skull.” (In Aramaic^d the name of this place is “Golgotha.”) ¹⁸ There they nailed Jesus to the cross. They also nailed two other men to crosses. They put them on each side of Jesus with him in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate^e told them to write a sign and put it on the cross. The sign said, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” ²⁰ The sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was nailed to the cross was near the city.

²¹ The leading Jewish priests said to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews.’ But write, ‘This man said, I am the King of the Jews.’”

²² Pilate answered, “I will not change what I have written.”

²³ After the soldiers nailed Jesus to the cross, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts. Each soldier got one part. They also took his tunic.^f It was all one piece of cloth woven from top to bottom. ²⁴ So the soldiers said to each other, “We should not tear this into parts. Let’s throw lots^g to see who will get it.” This happened to make clear the full meaning of what the Scriptures^h say,

“They divided my clothes among them,
and they threw lots for what I was wearing.” ⁱ

So the soldiers did this.

²⁵ Jesus’ mother stood near his cross. Her sister was also standing there with Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ Jesus saw his mother. He also saw the follower he loved very much standing there. He said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.” ²⁷ Then he said to the follower, “Here is your mother.” So after that, this follower took Jesus’ mother to live in his home.

Jesus Dies

²⁸ Later, Jesus knew that everything had been done. To make the Scriptures come true he said, “I am thirsty.”^k 29 There was a jar full of sour wine there, so the soldiers soaked a sponge in it. They put the sponge on a branch of a hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus’ mouth. ³⁰ When he tasted the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and died.

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    d 19:17 Aramaic The official language of the ancient Persian empire. Similar to Hebrew, it later became the common language of many Jews and is the spoken “Hebrew” referred to in the New Testament.

    e 19:19 Pilate The Roman governor of Judea, 26–36 a.d. Read Lk. 23:1-3.

    f 19:23 tunic A piece of clothing like a long undershirt.

    g 19:24 lots Stones, sticks, or bones used like dice for making decisions. See Prov. 16:33.

    h 19:24 Scriptures Or “Holy Writings”—the Old Testament.

    i 19:24 Quote from Psalm 22:18.

    k 19:28 “I am thirsty” See Ps. 22:15; 69:21.