Psalms 44:14

44:14 You made us ¹  an object of ridicule ²  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ³ 

Psalms 109:25

109:25 I am disdained by them. ⁴ 

When they see me, they shake their heads. ⁵ 

Isaiah 37:22-23

37:22 this is what the Lord says about him: ⁶ 

“The virgin daughter Zion ⁷ 

despises you – she makes fun of you;

daughter Jerusalem

shakes her head after you. ⁸ 

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ⁹ 

At the Holy One of Israel! ¹⁰ 

Matthew 27:39-40

27:39 Those ¹¹  who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads 27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ¹²  If you are God’s Son, come down ¹³  from the cross!”

Mark 11:29-32

11:29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 11:30 John’s baptism – was it from heaven or from people? ¹⁴  Answer me.” 11:31 They discussed with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ 11:32 But if we say, ‘From people – ’” (they feared the crowd, for they all considered John to be truly a prophet).

¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

² tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

³ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).

⁴ tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”

⁵ sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.

⁶ tn Heb “this is the word which the Lord has spoken about him.”

⁷ sn Zion (Jerusalem) is pictured here as a young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquer it.

⁸ sn Shaking the head was a mocking gesture of derision.

⁹ tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

¹⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹² sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

¹³ tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

¹⁴ tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is probably used here (and in v. 32) in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NAB, NRSV, “of human origin”; TEV, “from human beings”; NLT, “merely human”).