Matthew 27 priests had handed Jesus over because they were jealous of his popularity, asks the crowd to choose between freeing a notorious prisoner known as Barabbas, or Jesus. The crowd, persuaded by the chief priests and elders, respond passionately, repeating "Let Him (Christ) be crucified!" Pilate, bewildered by this, asks the crowd for a reason for their choice. Instead, they continue to call ever more loudly for the crucifixion of Jesus. Pilate comes to see that he cannot reason with the crowd. His wife has had a disturbing dream and asks him to have "nothing to do with that just man".
Chronology of Jesus Baptist and hence parts of the ministry of Jesus fall within the historical time span of AD 28-35, with the later year 35 having the least support among scholars. All four canonical gospels state that Jesus was crucified during the prefecture of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Roman Judaea. In the "Antiquities of the Jews" (written about AD 93), Josephus states () that Jesus was crucified on the orders of Pilate. Most scholars agree that while this reference includes some later Christian interpolations, it originally included a reference to the execution of Jesus under Pilate. In the second century