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Trial Before Pilate (Including The 39 Lashes) Lyrics

Artist: Jesus Christ Superstar
Album: Jesus Christ Superstar Soundtrack

Pilate
And so the king
Is once again my guest
And why is this?
Was Herod unimpressed?

Caiaphas
We turned to Rome
To sentence Nazareth
We have no law
To put a man to death
We need him crucified
It's all you have to do

Pilate
Talk to me, Jesus Christ
You have been brought here
Manacled, beaten by your own people
Do you have the first idea
Why you deserve it?
Listen, king of the Jews,
Where is your kingdom?
Look at me
Am I a Jew?

Jesus
I have got no kingdom
In this world
I'm through, through, through
There may be a kingdom for me
Somewhere if I only knew

Pilate
You're a king

Jesus
Yes you can see I am
I look for truth
And find that I get damned

Pilate
What is truth?
Is truth unchanging law?
We both have truths
Are mine the same as yours?

Crowd
Crucify him, crucify him!

Pilate
What do you mean
You'd crucify your king?

Crowd
We have no king but Caesar

Pilate
He's done no wrong
No, not the slightest thing

Crowd
We have no king but Caesar
Crucify him!

Pilate
I see no reason
I find no evil
This man is harmless
So why does he upset you?
He's just misguided
Thinks he's important
But to keep you vultures happy
I shall flog him

Crowd
Crucify! Crucify!

Pilate (Counting off the 39 Lashes)
One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Eleven!
Twelve! Thirteen! Fourteen! Fifteen! Sixteen! Seventeen! Eighteen!
Nineteen! Twenty! Twenty one! Twenty two! Twenty three! Twenty four!
Twenty five! Twenty six! Twenty seven! Twenty eight! Twenty nine!
Thirty! Thirty one! Thirty two! Thirty three! Thirty four! Thirty
five! Thirty six! Thirty seven! Thirty eight! Thirty nine!

Pilate
Where are you from Jesus?
What do you want Jesus?
Tell me!
You've got to be careful
You could be dead soon
Could well be
Why do you not speak
When I have your life in my hands?
How can you stay quiet?
I don't believe you understand!

Jesus
You have nothing in your hands
Any power you have
Comes to you from far beyond
Everything is fixed
And you can't change it

Pilate
You're a fool, Jesus Christ
How can I help you?

Crowd
Crucify him! Crucify him!
Remember Caesar
You have a duty
To keep the peace
So crucify him!
You'll be demoted
You'll be deported
So crucify him!

Pilate
Don't let me stop
Your great self-desctruction
Die if you want to
You misguided martyr!
I wash my hands
Of your demolition
Die if you want to
You innocent puppet!

Comments/Interpretations

by peti on 11/2/2008 8:02pm
this is a good song for sunday scool

by Typo on 11/23/2008 6:52am
Your great self-desctruction

the word is spelled with an extra C in it.

by piprupirupirupipirupi~ on 11/30/2008 4:33am
I don't think there are enough people in this world who understand the incredible music in this show; the nuances, even the blatant things are all carefully designed. Full-of-himself as my brother considers ALW, he can write one hell of a show. The gentle slides on "Tell me" and "Could well be" are just so mindbogglingly perfect that I fall to bits every time I hear them. Thank you for posting these lyrics so I could sing it; I haven't listened to it in a while but the music remains perfectly ingrained in my mind from growing up on this musical.

by currently unavaiable on 12/10/2008 6:29pm
thank u for giving me a life

by Lissy on 3/5/2009 9:07pm
I saw this movie in school it rocked plus there voices roxs

by dokuro-chan on 3/24/2009 10:24pm
>>I don't think there are enough people in this world who understand the incredible music in this show; the nuances, even the blatant things are all carefully designed.

TRUE

by Pseudonym on 11/2/2009 1:34am
I think the actor who played Pilate was awe inspiring

by Britt on 11/3/2009 9:22pm
I'm doing Jesus christ superstar for a school musical and I have to say, it is really an amazing piece of art. What Andrew lloyd weber is trying to portray is something very hard to do. And the way he puts things makes it even more powerful. Our Pilate is really amazing in this song, to the point when he comes up in my face yelling at us I want to either slap him or cry. But the most eerie part is the 39 lashes. Of course we can't actually whip Jesus, so we crowd around and crack a whip while Jesus is whipped. And emotions run high. We cringe and grab eachother, trying not to look. Because when you see the movies and picture it it hurts. Anyways, I just wanted to throw that in there. Go CJC!

by Ian Robertson on 7/10/2010 7:44am
Not bad, but, I auditions for this role and the lyrics are not accurate.

by JAS on 7/13/2010 7:18pm
It goes...

Pilate - "You're a King"

Jesus - "IT'S YOU THAT SAY I AM"

by David on 7/23/2010 8:23am
@ JAS

Seriously, you can't be that dumb. In which translation? Do you have the faintest idea what language the earliest known version is in?

... and if you're not quite that dumb and are actually talking about the musical, there are many different productions and recordings, and that is exactly the kind of shit that varies between productions.

by DUFF on 4/22/2011 2:10pm
ONE OF THE BEST PIECES OF WRITTEN AND PERFORMED ARTWORK. THIS MOVIE AND ALW DESERVE A WORLD RECORD FOR BEST ARTWORK.I GREW UP LISTENING AND HEARING GOOD FRIENDS PLAY THE SONGS AROUND A CAMP FIRE AND SINGING ALONG.(THANK YOU)

by yungturk39 on 7/3/2011 10:47am
"Damned volition" works better than "demolition".

by REK on 8/26/2011 5:34pm
First time I saw this, I was a little girl who was scared shitless because they hung up the poor nice main character on a cross. Now, about six-ten years later, I am amazed. Not only is Webber and Rice musical geniuses, they actually made the atheist in me love this musical. I mean, that's like making a vegetarian eat at McDonalds. I admire the ones I feared when I was younger (meaning Pilates and Kaifas and the rest of the 'bad guys). Only one thing is still clear as day from then; I can't like Mary. It's not the actor; it's the character. Don't know why.

by lovettjoker on 10/12/2012 5:50pm
Doing this for our youth musical and it is brilliant. When we watched it it was brilliant, but I had to check the lyrics. It sounded like he said you innocent papaya...

by Jenny on 5/1/2013 6:58pm
Bro, someone needs to redo this shit. I second JAS's comment:

It goes...

Pilate - "You're a King"

Jesus - "IT'S YOU THAT SAY I AM"

by Pilate on 12/26/2013 12:20am
Actually there is a lot wrong with this lyric. Whole sections are missing.... I.e. Look at your Jesus Christ, I agree he's mad, ought to be locked up, but that is not a reason to destroy him.....he's a sad little man, not king or god.... I need a crime!

by confusionfixer on 12/29/2013 10:35am
I don't think people understand that these lyrics are for the MUSICAL, and not the MOVIE... They are near perfect and aren't missing anything...

by RB on 12/31/2013 3:01pm
@confusionfixer
People do understand they're for the musical and they ARE incorrect and missing things. Ian, JAS, Jenny, and Pilate are all correct.

by Jared on 8/5/2014 6:45pm
I love this whole musical and I am in it right now my favourite songs are the temple and lepers

by carollscorner on 4/1/2018 7:52pm
I have the Original Cast album from 1970 that came with a booklet of the full lyrics and there are NO lyrics for anything like "I agree Jesus is mad and should be locked up.....

by vinny on 4/16/2018 2:53pm
The original 1970 version had less lyrics and songs to make it fit on 2 vinyl albums. The stage version had to have songs and lyrics added to stretch it out to 2 hours.