Luke 23:17-31

New Catholic Bible

[¹⁷ Now Pilate was obliged to release one man to them at the time of the festival.]^{[a] 18} And then the crowd all shouted in unison, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” ¹⁹ (He had been imprisoned for an insurrection that had occurred in the city as well as for murder.) ²⁰ In his desire to release Jesus, Pilate again pleaded with them, ²¹ but, they continued to shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” ²² A third time he addressed them: “Why? What evil has he done? I have not found in him any crime that deserves death. Therefore, I will have him scourged and let him go.”

²³ However, with loud shouts they continued to insist that he should be crucified, and their voices prevailed. ²⁴ Pilate ordered that what they wanted was to be granted. ²⁵ He released the man they asked for, who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed over Jesus to them to deal with as they wished.

²⁶ The Way of the Cross.^[b] As they led him away, they seized a man from Cyrene named Simon, who was returning from the country. They put the cross on his back and forced him to carry it behind Jesus. ²⁷ A large number of people followed Jesus, among them many women who were mourning and lamenting over him.

²⁸ But he turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Weep rather for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹ For behold, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore children and the breasts that never nursed.’ ³⁰ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ ³¹ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”