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".
Matthew 27 Baptist and Jesus himself used in their ministry (, "metanoeite"); the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes that "it implies no change of heart or life, but merely remorse or regret". Judas brings back the 30 pieces of silver which had been given to him by the priests of Judea as recompense for identifying his master to Caiphas, throwing them down in the temple, and then leaves to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Jesus impresses Pilate, who is taken aback by Jesus' silent dignity at his questioning. Pilate begins to address the crowd, and knowing (or "shrewdly suspecting") that the chief