Mark 15

Mark 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. This chapter records the narrative of Jesus' passion, including his trial before Pontius Pilate and then his crucifixion, death and entombment. Jesus' trial before Pilate and his crucifixion, death, and burial are also recorded in Matthew 27, Luke 23, and John 18:28–19:42. The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 47 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Codex Vaticanus (~325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (~330–360) Codex Bezae (~400) Codex Washingtonianus (~400) Codex Alexandrinus (~400–440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (~450; complete) Psalm Psalm Psalm Psalm ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Pilate's court Immediately, in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council; and they bound Jesus, led Him away, and delivered Him to Pilate. In the previous chapter, Mark has stressed that "all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes", "all the council", had taken part in the overnight trial of Jesus. "As soon as it was morning", the council or Sanhedrin reaches a decision, and agrees to hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate. Pilate was the Roman Prefect (governor) of Iudaea Province from 26 to 36, which was the Roman combination of Idumea, Judea and Samaria and did not include Galilee, which was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas. William Robertson Nicoll suggests that the "consultation" should be understood as the "resolution" resulting from the consultation, given that the whole council had been involved in the trial. According to Matthew, the Sanhedrin had decided to execute Jesus. Only the Romans were allowed to execute someone, not the local officials, according to John 18:31, yet records the Sanhedrin ordering the stoning of Saint Stephen and also James the Just according to Antiquities of the Jews (20.9.1), resulting in a rebuke from the Roman authority. Pilate asked him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?' He answered him, 'You say so.