The Life of Jesus

They hit him on the head with a stick, spat on him and kneeled in mock worship of him.

When they had finished ridiculing him, they took off the purple robe, put his own clothes back on him and led him away to be nailed to the execution-stake.

A certain man from Cyrene, Shim`on, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country; and they forced him to carry the stake.

They brought Yeshua to a place called Gulgolta (which means "place of a skull"),

and they gave him wine spiced with myrrh, but he didn't take it.

Then they nailed him to the execution-stake; and they divided his clothes among themselves, throwing dice to determine what each man should get.

It was nine in the morning when they nailed him to the stake.

Over his head, the written notice of the charge against him read, THE KING OF THE JEWS

On execution-stakes with him they placed two robbers, one on his right and one on his left.

And the passage from the Tanakh was fulfilled which says,

People passing by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! So you can destroy the Temple, can you, and rebuild it in three days?

Save yourself and come down from the stake!"

Likewise, the head cohanim and the Torah-teachers made fun of him, saying to each other, "He saved others, but he can't save himself!"

and, "So he's the Messiah, is he? The King of Isra'el? Let him come down now from the stake! If we see that, then we'll believe him!" Even the men nailed up with him insulted him.

At noon, darkness covered the whole Land until three o'clock in the afternoon.

At three, he uttered a loud cry, "Elohi! Elohi! L'mah sh'vaktani?" (which means, "My God! My God! Why have you deserted me?")

On hear ing this, some of the bystanders said, "Look! He's calling for Eliyahu!"

One ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar, put it on a stick and gave it to him to drink. "Wait!" he said, "Let's see if Eliyahu will come and take him down."

But Yeshua let out a loud cry and gave up his spirit.

And the parokhet in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw the way he gave up his spirit, he said, "This man really was a son of God!"

There were women looking on from a distance; among them were Miryam from Magdala, Miryam the mother of the younger Ya`akov and of Yosi, and Shlomit.

These women had followed him and helped him when he was in the Galil. And many other women were there who had come up with him to Yerushalayim.

Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before a Shabbat), as evening approached,

Yosef of Ramatayim, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who himself was also looking forward to the Kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Yeshua's body.