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18:25 - In the meantime Simon Peter was still standing, keeping himself warm. Some of them said to him, "Surely you too are one of his disciples, aren't you?" And he denied it and said, "No, I am not."
18:26 - Then one of the High Priest's servants, a relation of the man (Malchus) whose ear Peter had cut off, remarked, "Didn't I see you in the garden with him?"
18:27 - And again Peter denied it. And immediately the cock crew.
Jesus is taken before the Roman authority
18:28 - Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas' presence into the palace. It was now early morning and the Jews themselves did not go into the palace, for fear that they would be contaminated and would not be able to eat the Passover.
18:29 - So Pilate walked out to them and said, "What is the charge that you are bringing against this man?"
18:30 - "If he were not an evil-doer, we should not have handed him over to you," they replied.
18:31-32 - To which Pilate retorted, "Then take him yourselves and judge him according to your law." "We are not allowed to put a man to death," replied the Jews (thus fulfilling Christ's prophecy of the method of his own death).
18:33 - So Pilate went back into the Palace and called Jesus to him. "Are you the king of the Jews?" he asked.
18:34 - "Are you asking this of your own accord," replied Jesus, "or have other people spoken to you about me?"
18:35 - "Do you think I am a Jew?" replied Pilate. "It's your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What have you done, anyway?"
18:36 - "My kingdom is not founded in this world - if it were, my servants would have fought to prevent my being handed over to the Jews. But in fact my kingdom is not founded on all this!"
18:37 - "So you are a king, are you?" returned Pilate. "Indeed I am a king," Jesus replied; "the reason for my birth and the reason for my coming into the world is to witness to the truth. Every man who loves truth recognises my voice."
18:38-39 - To which Pilate retorted, "What is 'truth'?" and went straight out again to the Jews and said: "I find nothing criminal about him at all. But I have an arrangement with you to set one prisoner free at Passover time. Do you wish me then to set free for you the king of the Jews'?"
