Person
Pontius Pilate
Mentioned in 54 verses across 6 books, first in Matthew 27:2. The verses below are the ones linked to this person (the Theographic dataset, with our sourced corrections).
In these stories
In the Bible
All 54 verses, in Bible order. Text from the Berean Standard Bible; verse numbers follow the KJV.
Matthew
- Matthew 27:2
They bound Him, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate the governor.
- Matthew 27:13
Then Pilate asked Him, “Do You not hear how many charges they are bringing against You?”
- Matthew 27:17
So when the crowd had assembled, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”
- Matthew 27:22
“What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify Him!”
- Matthew 27:24
When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”
- Matthew 27:58
He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
- Matthew 27:62
The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and Pharisees assembled before Pilate.
- Matthew 27:65
“You have a guard,” Pilate said. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
Mark
- Mark 15:1
Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate.
- Mark 15:2
So Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied.
- Mark 15:4
Then Pilate questioned Him again, “Have You no answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!”
- Mark 15:5
But to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply.
- Mark 15:9
“Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Pilate asked.
- Mark 15:12
So Pilate asked them again, “What then do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?”
- Mark 15:14
“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”
- Mark 15:15
And wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified.
- Mark 15:43
Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent Council member who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God, boldly went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.
- Mark 15:44
Pilate was surprised to hear that Jesus was already dead, so he summoned the centurion to ask if this was so.
Luke
- Luke 3:1
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
- Luke 13:1
At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
- Luke 23:1
Then the whole council rose and led Jesus away to Pilate.
- Luke 23:3
So Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied.
- Luke 23:4
Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”
- Luke 23:6
When Pilate heard this, he asked if the man was a Galilean.
- Luke 23:11
And even Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked Him. Dressing Him in a fine robe, they sent Him back to Pilate.
- Luke 23:12
That day Herod and Pilate became friends; before this time they had been enemies.
- Luke 23:13
Then Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people,
- Luke 23:20
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again,
- Luke 23:24
So Pilate sentenced that their demand be met.
- Luke 23:52
He went to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus.
John
- John 18:29
So Pilate went out to them and asked, “What accusation are you bringing against this man?”
- John 18:31
“You take Him and judge Him by your own law,” Pilate told them. “We are not permitted to execute anyone,” the Jews replied.
- John 18:33
Pilate went back into the Praetorium, summoned Jesus, and asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
- John 18:35
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”
- John 18:37
“Then You are a king!” Pilate said. “You say that I am a king,” Jesus answered. “For this reason I was born and have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.”
- John 18:38
“What is truth?” Pilate asked. And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against Him.
- John 19:1
Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.
- John 19:4
Once again Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.”
- John 19:5
When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”
- John 19:6
As soon as the chief priests and officers saw Him, they shouted, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” “You take Him and crucify Him,” Pilate replied, “for I find no basis for a charge against Him.”
- John 19:8
When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,
- John 19:10
So Pilate said to Him, “Do You refuse to speak to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You and authority to crucify You?”
- John 19:12
From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”
- John 19:13
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha.
- John 19:15
At this, they shouted, “Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!” “Shall I crucify your King?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” replied the chief priests.
- John 19:19
Pilate also had a notice posted on the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
- John 19:21
So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but only that He said, ‘I am the King of the Jews.’”
- John 19:22
Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
- John 19:31
It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.
- John 19:38
Afterward, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and removed His body.
Acts
- Acts 3:13
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.
- Acts 4:27
In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.
- Acts 13:28
And though they found no ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed.
1 Timothy
- 1 Timothy 6:13
I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession in His testimony before Pontius Pilate:
Events
Events the dataset lists Pontius Pilate as taking part in. Dates follow its Ussher–Jones reckoning (one of several traditional counts), not established history.
- no dateRoman Trials
- no dateCrucifixion and Burial
Dictionary
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), as attached to this record by Theographic. The entry is for the name and can describe more than one person who bore it. Easton wrote in 1897, and some of his views are now debated.
Read Easton’s entry
Probably connected with the Roman family of the Pontii, and called “Pilate” from the Latin pileatus, i.e., “wearing the pileus”, which was the “cap or badge of a manumitted slave,” as indicating that he was a “freedman,” or the descendant of one. He was the sixth in the order of the Roman procurators of Judea (A.D. 26-36). His headquarters were at Caesarea, but he frequently went up to Jerusalem. His reign extended over the period of the ministry of John the Baptist and of Jesus Christ, in connection with whose trial his name comes into prominent notice. Pilate was a “typical Roman, not of the antique, simple stamp, but of the imperial period, a man not without some remains of the ancient Roman justice in his soul, yet pleasure-loving, imperious, and corrupt. He hated the Jews whom he ruled, and in times of irritation freely shed their blood. They returned his hatred with cordiality, and accused him of every crime, maladministration, cruelty, and robbery. He visited Jerusalem as seldom as possible; for, indeed, to one accustomed to the pleasures of Rome, with its theatres, baths, games, and gay society, Jerusalem, with its religiousness and ever-smouldering revolt, was a dreary residence. When he did visit it he stayed in the palace of Herod the Great, it being common for the officers sent by Rome into conquered countries to occupy the palaces of the displaced sovereigns.”
After his trial before the Sanhedrin, Jesus was brought to the Roman procurator, Pilate, who had come up to Jerusalem as usual to preserve order during the Passover, and was now residing, perhaps, in the castle of Antonia, or it may be in Herod’s palace. Pilate came forth from his palace and met the deputation from the Sanhedrin, who, in answer to his inquiry as to the nature of the accusation they had to prefer against Jesus, accused him of being a “malefactor.” Pilate was not satisfied with this, and they further accused him (1) of sedition, (2) preventing the payment of the tribute to Caesar, and (3) of assuming the title of king (Luke 23:2). Pilate now withdrew with Jesus into the palace (John 18:33) and examined him in private (37, 38); and then going out to the deputation still standing before the gate, he declared that he could find no fault in Jesus (Luke 23:4). This only aroused them to more furious clamour, and they cried that he excited the populace “throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee.” When Pilate heard of Galilee, he sent the accused to Herod Antipas, who had jurisdiction over that province, thus hoping to escape the difficulty in which he found himself. But Herod, with his men of war, set Jesus at nought, and sent him back again to Pilate, clad in a purple robe of mockery (23:11, 12).
Pilate now proposed that as he and Herod had found no fault in him, they should release Jesus; and anticipating that they would consent to this proposal, he ascended the judgment-seat as if ready to ratify the decision (Matt. 27:19). But at this moment his wife (Claudia Procula) sent a message to him imploring him to have nothing to do with the “just person.” Pilate’s feelings of perplexity and awe were deepened by this incident, while the crowd vehemently cried out, “Not this man, but Barabbas.” Pilate answered, “What then shall I do with Jesus?” The fierce cry immediately followed. “Let him be crucified.” Pilate, apparently vexed, and not knowning what to do, said, “Why, what evil hath he done?” but with yet fiercer fanaticism the crowd yelled out, “Away with him! crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate yielded, and sent Jesus away to be scourged. This scourging was usually inflicted by lictors; but as Pilate was only a procurator he had no lictor, and hence his soldiers inflicted this terrible punishment. This done, the soldiers began to deride the sufferer, and they threw around him a purple robe, probably some old cast-off robe of state (Matt. 27:28; John 19:2), and putting a reed in his right hand, and a crowd of thorns on his head, bowed the knee before him in mockery, and saluted him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They took also the reed and smote him with it on the head and face, and spat in his face, heaping upon him every indignity.
Pilate then led forth Jesus from within the Praetorium (Matt. 27:27) before the people, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, saying, “Behold the man!” But the sight of Jesus, now scourged and crowned and bleeding, only stirred their hatred the more, and again they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” and brought forth this additional charge against him, that he professed to be “the Son of God.” Pilate heard this accusation with a superstitious awe, and taking him once more within the Praetorium, asked him, “Whence art thou?” Jesus gave him no answer. Pilate was irritated by his continued silence, and said, “Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee?” Jesus, with calm dignity, answered the Roman, “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above.”
After this Pilate seemed more resolved than ever to let Jesus go. The crowd perceiving this cried out, “If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend.” This settled the matter. He was afraid of being accused to the emperor. Calling for water, he washed his hands in the sight of the people, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just person.” The mob, again scorning his scruples, cried, “His blood be on us, and on our children.” Pilate was stung to the heart by their insults, and putting forth Jesus before them, said, “Shall I crucify your King?” The fatal moment had now come. They madly exclaimed, “We have no king but Caesar;” and now Jesus is given up to them, and led away to be crucified.
By the direction of Pilate an inscription was placed, according to the Roman custom, over the cross, stating the crime for which he was crucified. Having ascertained from the centurion that he was dead, he gave up the body to Joseph of Arimathea to be buried. Pilate’s name now disappears from the Gospel history. References to him, however, are found in the Acts of the Apostles (3:13; 4:27; 13:28), and in 1 Tim. 6:13. In A.D. 36 the governor of Syria brought serious accusations against Pilate, and he was banished to Vienne in Gaul, where, according to tradition, he committed suicide.