Pilate's Hands

They brought Him to me in the early hours

Bound and bleeding, silent as the dawn

The priests were screaming blasphemy

But the Man before me hadn't done a thing wrong

I've sentenced hundreds to the cross before

Thieves and rebels, men of lesser worth

But this one-this one looked at me

As if He pitied the most powerful man on earth

My wife sent word from troubled sleep

Have nothing to do with this righteous Man

But the crowd was growing, Caesar's trust

Hung by a thread I held in my hand

What is truth? I asked Him straight

He didn't answer, He just stood

And in that silence I could feel

The weight of something I misunderstood

Wash these hands, wash them clean

Let the water take the blame

I am only doing what the people want

I am innocent of this Man's claim

Crucify Him! Crucify

Wash these hands, wash them clean

But the water's turning red

And the truth I tried to rinse away

Is the truth that fills me now with dread

I offered them Barabbas-a murderer

Surely they'd choose the healer instead

But they wanted blood, and they wanted His

And I gave them exactly what they said

The flagellation, the crown of thorns

I could have stopped it with a word

But Rome requires order above justice

And justice died without being heard

History will remember me

Not as the governor who kept the peace

But as the man who held the truth

In his trembling hands

And let it bleed

I knew who He was

I knew

And I washed my hands as if water

Could cleanse what cowardice had done

Wash these hands, wash them clean

Let the water take my shame

I condemned the only innocent Man

And I'll forever carry His name

Crucify! Crucify! His blood be on us

Wash these hands-they'll never dry

These hands will never be clean