And after a while of waiting, Pontius Pilate reappeared, and coming down to Caiaphas said, “He hath confessed; he shall join the other criminals that are to be executed this day.” Then one among those who were waiting in the crowd came forward unto Pilate, and said unto him, “Master, it is a grace of our lord the Emperor that at our Passover there be released unto us one of the prisoners that are condemned to death.” And Pilate answered and said, “That is so: whom will ye that I release?” And many of those in the crowd called out, “Jesus.” And Pilate stepped back, and summoned to him a lictor. And shortly after soldiers came forward in the portico, bearing with them Jesus the Nazarene. Upon him was a purple robe of royalty, and upon his brow had been placed the faded rose‐wreath of some reveller which had been put on in haste, and some of the thorns had torn the flesh, and blood was trickling down. When the people saw him, many cried out, “Not this Jesus, but Jesus Bar Abbas.” And one man among the crowd called out, “Better Jesus Bar Abba(10) than Jesus Bar Amma;”(11) and laughter and jeers followed. Then Pilate seemed puzzled, and called to him one of his lictors, who spake earnestly to him for a time, and then received an order from him. And going up the steps, he entered the palace. And shortly afterwards there came forward the man Jesus Bar Abbas of Jerusalem, of whom I have spoken to thee before. Now, he had been very popular among the folk, and had lost his liberty in a rising against the Romans, in which a Roman sentry had been slain. And there stood the two Jesuses—the one that had risen against the Romans, and the one that had told the people they should pay tribute to their Roman lords. It was manifest that the new‐comer, who had done naught against the Romans, was more in favor with Pilate the Procurator, while the folk who had welcomed him on the first day of the week, on this the sixth day reviled and despised him because he had refused to lead a rising against the Romans as the other one had done. Then Pilate called out to them and said, “Whom will ye that I release unto you: Jesus who is called Bar Abbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” And almost all the multitude cried, “Jesus Bar Abbas! Jesus Bar Abbas!” Then Pilate gave command, and the soldiers took tack Jesus the Nazarene into the palace again, while others removed the fetters from Jesus Bar Abbas, and he came down the steps and disappeared among the crowd.