Matthew 27:29-30

27:29 and after braiding ¹  a crown of thorns, ²  they put it on his head. They ³  put a staff ⁴  in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: ⁵  “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁶  27:30 They ⁷  spat on him and took the staff ⁸  and struck him repeatedly ⁹  on the head.

Mark 15:18

15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁰ 

John 19:3

19:3 They ¹¹  came up to him again and again ¹²  and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹³  And they struck him repeatedly ¹⁴  in the face.

¹ tn Or “weaving.”

² sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁴ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

⁵ tn Grk “they mocked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

⁶ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁸ tn Or “the reed.”

⁹ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

¹⁰ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn The words “again and again” are implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἤρχοντο (hrconto).

¹³ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

¹⁴ tn The word “repeatedly” is implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἐδιδοσαν (edidosan).