27:11 Then 5 Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, 6 “Are you the king 7 of the Jews?” Jesus 8 said, “You say so.” 9
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the charges brought in the previous verse.
2 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 sn “Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate was interested only in the third charge, because of its political implications of sedition against Rome.
4 sn The reply “You say so” is somewhat enigmatic, like Jesus’ earlier reply to the Jewish leadership in 22:70.
5 tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
6 tn Grk “asked him, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
7 sn “Are you the king of the Jews?” Pilate was interested in this charge because of its political implications of sedition against Rome.
8 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
9 sn The reply “You say so” is somewhat enigmatic, like Jesus’ earlier reply to the Jewish leadership in 26:64.
9 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.
10 sn Mention of the inscription is an important detail, because the inscription would normally give the reason for the execution. It shows that Jesus was executed for claiming to be a king. It was also probably written with irony from the executioners’ point of view.
11 tn Grk “was written.”
13 tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”
17 sn Mention of the inscription is an important detail, because the inscription would normally give the reason for the execution. It shows that Jesus was executed for claiming to be a king. It was also probably written with irony from the executioners’ point of view.
21 tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
22 sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).
25 tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
26 tn The words “again and again” are implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἤρχοντο (hrconto).
27 tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”
28 tn The word “repeatedly” is implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἐδιδοσαν (edidosan).
29 tn Or “an inscription.”
30 tn Grk “Pilate also wrote a notice and placed it on the cross.” The two verbs should be read as causatives, since it is highly unlikely that the Roman governor would perform either of these actions himself. He ordered them to be done.
31 tn Grk “Now it was written.”
33 tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem in general. See also the note on the phrase Jewish religious leaders” in v. 7.
34 tn Or “this inscription.”
35 tn Grk “in Hebrew.”
37 tn Or “the Jewish chief priests.” Nowhere else in the Fourth Gospel are the two expressions οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων (Joi arcierei" twn Ioudaiwn) combined. Earlier in 19:15 the chief priests were simply referred to as οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς. It seems likely that this is another example of Johannine irony, to be seen in contrast to the inscription on the cross which read ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων (Jo basileu" twn Ioudaiwn). For this reason the phrase has been translated “the chief priests of the Jews” (which preserves in the translation the connection with “King of the Jews”) rather than “the Jewish chief priests.”