John 19:6

19:6 When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “You take him and crucify him! Certainly I find no reason for an accusation against him!”

Acts 21:38

21:38 Then you’re not that Egyptian who started a rebellion and led the four thousand men of the ‘Assassins’ into the wilderness some time ago?” 10 

Acts 22:22-24

The Roman Commander Questions Paul

22:22 The crowd 11  was listening to him until he said this. 12  Then 13  they raised their voices and shouted, 14  “Away with this man 15  from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live!” 16  22:23 While they were screaming 17  and throwing off their cloaks 18  and tossing dust 19  in the air, 22:24 the commanding officer 20  ordered Paul 21  to be brought back into the barracks. 22  He told them 23  to interrogate Paul 24  by beating him with a lash 25  so that he could find out the reason the crowd 26  was shouting at Paul 27  in this way.


sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman statesman and orator Cicero (106-43 b.c.) called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.

tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from context.

tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because they are unnecessary in contemporary English style.

sn How are Pilate’s words “You take him and crucify him” to be understood? Was he offering a serious alternative to the priests who wanted Jesus crucified? Was he offering them an exception to the statement in 18:31 that the Jewish authorities did not have the power to carry out a death penalty? Although a few scholars have suggested that the situation was at this point so far out of Pilate’s control that he really was telling the high priests they could go ahead and crucify a man he had found to be innocent, this seems unlikely. It is far more likely that Pilate’s statement should be understood as one of frustration and perhaps sarcasm. This seems to be supported by the context, for the Jewish authorities make no attempt at this point to seize Jesus and crucify him. Rather they continue to pester Pilate to order the crucifixion.

tn On this use of γάρ (gar) used in exclamations and strong affirmations, see BDAG 190 s.v. γάρ 3.

tn Or “find no basis for an accusation”; Grk “find no cause.”

tn L&N 39.41 has “οὐκ ἄρα σὺ εἶ ὁ Αἰγύπτιος ὁ πρὸ τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἀναστατώσας ‘then you are not that Egyptian who some time ago started a rebellion’ Ac 21:38.”

tn Grk “of the Sicarii.”

tn Or “desert.”

10 tn Grk “before these days.”

11 tn Grk “They were listening”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

12 tn Grk “until this word.”

13 tn Grk “And.” To indicate the logical sequence, καί (kai) has been translated as “then” here.

14 tn Grk “and said.”

15 tn Grk “this one.”

16 tn BDAG 491 s.v. καθήκω has “to be appropriate, come/reach to, be proper/fitting…Usu. impers. καθήκει it comes (to someone)…foll. by acc. and inf….οὐ καθῆκεν αὐτὸν ζῆν he should not be allowed to live Ac 22:22.”

17 tn The participle κραυγαζόντων (kraugazontwn) has been translated temporally.

18 tn Or “outer garments.”

19 sn The crowd’s act of tossing dust in the air indicated they had heard something disturbing and offensive. This may have been a symbolic gesture, indicating Paul’s words deserved to be thrown to the wind, or it may have simply resulted from the fact they had nothing else to throw at him at the moment.

20 tn Grk “the chiliarch” (an officer in command of a thousand soldiers). In Greek the term χιλίαρχος (ciliarco") literally described the “commander of a thousand,” but it was used as the standard translation for the Latin tribunus militum or tribunus militare, the military tribune who commanded a cohort of 600 men.

21 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

22 tn Or “the headquarters.” BDAG 775 s.v. παρεμβολή 2 has “barracks/headquarters of the Roman troops in Jerusalem Ac 21:34, 37; 22:24; 23:10, 16, 32.”

23 tn Grk “into the barracks, saying.” This is a continuation of the same sentence in Greek using the participle εἴπας (eipas), but due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence a new sentence was begun in the translation here. The direct object “them” has been supplied; it is understood in Greek.

24 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

25 sn To interrogate Paul by beating him with a lash. Under the Roman legal system it was customary to use physical torture to extract confessions or other information from prisoners who were not Roman citizens and who were charged with various crimes, especially treason or sedition. The lashing would be done with a whip of leather thongs with pieces of metal or bone attached to the ends.

26 tn Grk “they”; the referent (the crowd) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

27 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Paul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.