Jesus was led to Pilate, who questioned him privately: "Are you the King of the Jews?"
"Do you take me for a Jew?" asked Pilate. "Your own people and the priests have brought you before me, saying that you have claimed to be a king. Now tell me, what have you done?"
"My rule as a king does not belong to this world," said Jesus. "If my kingdom were of this world, my men would fight to keep me from being given up to the Jews; but my kingdom is not here on the earth."
"Then you are a king!" said Pilate.
"You speak the truth, I am a king," said Jesus. "I was born for this: I came into the world for this, that I should speak in behalf of the truth. Every one who is on the side of truth listens to my words."
"Truth! What is truth?" said Pilate. Then he went out of the hall and spoke to the Jewish rulers:
"I do not find anything wrong in this man."
This decision of Pilate made the Jews very angry, for they had hoped that he would approve their sentence without asking many questions; and now they found that he was willing to set Jesus free. Pilate thought that Jesus was a harmless man, perhaps not quite right in his mind in believing that he was a king.
But the rulers would not cease their charges against Jesus. They said to Pilate, "This man stirs up the people everywhere, and makes trouble. He began in Galilee; and now he has come here."