Luke 23:10-12

23:10 The chief priests and the experts in the law ¹  were there, vehemently accusing him. ²  23:11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, ³  dressing him in elegant clothes, ⁴  Herod ⁵  sent him back to Pilate. 23:12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, ⁶  for prior to this they had been enemies. ⁷ 

¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

² sn Luke portrays the Jewish leadership as driving events toward the cross by vehemently accusing Jesus.

³ tn This is a continuation of the previous Greek sentence, but because of its length and complexity, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying “then” to indicate the sequence of events.

⁴ sn This mockery involved putting elegant royal clothes on Jesus, either white or purple (the colors of royalty). This was no doubt a mockery of Jesus’ claim to be a king.

⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ sn Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. It may be that Pilate’s change of heart was related to the death of his superior, Sejanus, who had a reputation for being anti-Jewish. To please his superior, Pilate may have ruled the Jews with insensitivity. Concerning Sejanus, see Philo, Embassy 24 (160-61) and Flaccus 1 (1).

⁶ tn Grk “at enmity with each other.”