John 18:39

But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the passover; will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? They cried out therefore again, saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.

This was Pilate's third attempt to release Jesus, as more fully detailed in the synoptics; but it was thwarted by leaders who stirred up the people to demand Barabbas instead of Jesus. The unmitigated duplicity of the priests was glaringly evident in this. Their choice of a known revolutionary instead of Jesus was impossible of reconciliation with their avowed loyalty to Caesar (Mark 15:7). For more on Barabbas. see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 27:17. The numbering of these efforts to release Jesus refers to their order of appearance in John, and not to their chronological sequence. For a discussion of seven efforts of Pilate to avoid sentencing Christ, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 27:14-25.