Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/The Diatessaron of Tatian/The Diatessaron/Section LI

Section LI.

[1] [Arabic, p. 192] And when Pilate heard this saying, he took Jesus out, and sat on the tribune in the place which was called the pavement of stones, but in the Hebrew [2] called Gabbatha.&#160; And that day was the Friday of the passover:&#160; and it had reached [3] about the sixth hour. &#160; And he said to the Jews, Behold, your King!&#160; And they cried out, Take him, take him, crucify him, crucify him.&#160; Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King?&#160; The chief priests said unto him, We have no king except [4] C&#230;sar.&#160; And Pilate, when he saw it, and he was gaining nothing, but the tumult was increasing, took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, and said, I [5] am innocent of the blood of this innocent man:&#160; ye shall know. &#160; And all the people [6] answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.&#160; Then Pilate commanded to grant them their request; and delivered up Jesus to be crucified, according to their wish.

[7] Then Judas the betrayer, when he saw Jesus wronged, went and returned the [8] thirty pieces of money to the chief priests and the elders, and said, I have sinned in my betraying innocent blood.&#160; And they said unto him, And we, what must we do? [9] know thou.&#160; And he threw down the money in the temple, and departed; and he [10] went away and hanged himself.&#160; And the chief priests took the money, and said, We have not authority to cast it into the place of the offering, for it is the price [11] of blood.&#160; And they took counsel, and bought with it the plain of the potter, for [12] the burial of strangers.&#160; Therefore that plain was called, The field of blood, unto [13] [Arabic, p. 193] this day.&#160; Therein was fulfilled the saying in the prophet which said, I took thirty pieces of money, the price of the precious one, which was fixed [14] by the children of Israel; and I paid them for the plain of the potter, as the Lord commanded me.

[15] And the Jews took Jesus, and went away to crucify him.&#160; And when he bare his [16] cross and went out, they stripped him of those purple and scarlet garments which he [17] had on, and put on him his own garments.&#160; And while they were going with him, they found a man, a Cyrenian, coming from the country, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus:&#160; and they compelled this man to bear the cross of Jesus.&#160; [18] And they took the cross and laid it upon him, that he might bear it, and come after Jesus; and Jesus went, and his cross behind him.

[19] And there followed him much people, and women which were lamenting and [20] raving. &#160; But Jesus turned unto them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not [21] for me:&#160; weep for yourselves, and for your children.&#160; Days are coming, when they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that bare not, and the breasts [22] that gave not suck.&#160; Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and [23] to the hills, Cover us.&#160; For if they do so in the green tree, what shall be in the dry?

[24] And they brought with Jesus two others of the malefactors, to be put to death.

[25] And when they came unto a certain place called The skull, and called in the Hebrew Golgotha, they crucified him there:&#160; they crucified with him these two [26] malefactors, one on his right, and the other on his left.&#160; And the scripture was [27] [Arabic, p. 194] fulfilled, which saith, He was numbered with the transgressors.&#160; And they gave him to drink wine and myrrh, and vinegar which had been mixed with the myrrh; and he tasted, and would not drink; and he received it not.

[28] And the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and cast lots for them in four parts, to every party of the soldiers a part; and his tunic was [29] without sewing, from the top woven throughout.&#160; And they said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be:&#160; and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith,

They divided my garments among them,

And cast the lot for my vesture.

[30, 31] This the soldiers did.&#160; And they sat and guarded him there.&#160; And Pilate wrote on a tablet the cause of his death, and put it on the wood of the cross above his head. &#160; And there was written upon it thus:&#160; [32] .&#160; And this tablet read many of the Jews:&#160; for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city:&#160; and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.&#160; [33] And the chief priests said unto Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, He it is [34] that said, I am the King of the Jews.&#160; Pilate said unto them, What hath been [35] written hath been written. &#160; And the people were standing beholding; and they [36] that passed by were reviling him, and shaking their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself if thou art the Son [37] of God, and come down from the cross.&#160; And in like manner the chief priests and the [Arabic, p. 195] scribes and the elders and the Pharisees derided him, and laughed one with [38, 39] another, and said, The saviour of others cannot save himself.&#160; If he is the Messiah, the chosen of God, and the King of Israel, let him come down now from the [40] cross, that we may see, and believe in him.&#160; He that relieth on God&#8212;let him deliver him [41] now, if he is pleased with him:&#160; for he said, I am the Son of God.&#160; And the soldiers [42] also scoffed at him in that they came near unto him, and brought him vinegar, and [43] said unto him, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself.&#160; And likewise the two robbers also that were crucified with him reproached him.

[44] And one of those two malefactors who were crucified with him reviled him, and [45] said, If thou art the Messiah, save thyself, and save us also.&#160; But his comrade rebuked him, and said, Dost thou not even fear God, being thyself also in this [46] condemnation?&#160; And we with justice, and as we deserved, and according to our deed, have we been rewarded:&#160; but this man hath not done anything unlawful.&#160; [47] And he said unto Jesus, Remember me, my Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom.&#160; [48] Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

[49] And there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother&#8217;s sister, [50] Mary that was related to Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.&#160; And Jesus saw his mother, and that disciple whom he loved standing by; and he said to his mother, [51] Woman, behold, thy son!&#160; And he said to that disciple, Behold, thy mother!&#160; And from that hour that disciple took her unto himself.

[52] [Arabic, p. 196] And from the sixth hour darkness was on all the land unto the ninth [53] hour, and the sun became dark.&#160; And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and said, Yail, Yaili, why hast thou forsaken me? which is, My [54] God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?&#160; And some of those that stood there, when they heard, said, This man called Elijah.