Deuteronomy 16:18

Provision for Justice

16:18 You must appoint judges and civil servants ¹  for each tribe in all your villages ²  that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly. ³ 

Matthew 27:12-13

27:12 But when he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he did not respond. 27:13 Then Pilate said to him, “Don’t you hear how many charges they are bringing against you?”

Matthew 27:20

27:20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.

Matthew 27:41-42

27:41 In ⁴  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ⁵  and elders ⁶  – were mocking him: ⁷  27:42 “He saved others, but he cannot save himself! He is the king of Israel! If he comes down ⁸  now from the cross, we will believe in him!

Matthew 27:62-63

The Guard at the Tomb

27:62 The ⁹  next day (which is after the day of preparation) the chief priests and the Pharisees ¹⁰  assembled before Pilate 27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while that deceiver was still alive he said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

Luke 23:2

23:2 They ¹¹  began to accuse ¹²  him, saying, “We found this man subverting ¹³  our nation, forbidding ¹⁴  us to pay the tribute tax ¹⁵  to Caesar ¹⁶  and claiming that he himself is Christ, ¹⁷  a king.”

Acts 4:26-27

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ¹⁸ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ¹⁹  Christ.’ ²⁰ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ²¹  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ²² 

[16:18]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term וְשֹׁטְרִים (vÿshoterim), usually translated “officers” (KJV, NCV) or “officials” (NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), derives from the verb שֹׁטֵר (shoter, “to write”). The noun became generic for all types of public officials. Here, however, it may be appositionally epexegetical to “judges,” thus resulting in the phrase, “judges, that is, civil officers,” etc. Whoever the שֹׁטְרִים are, their task here consists of rendering judgments and administering justice.

[16:18]  ² tn Heb “gates.”

[16:18]  ³ tn Heb “with judgment of righteousness”; ASV, NASB “with righteous judgment.”

[27:41]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:41]  ⁵ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[27:41]  ⁶ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[27:41]  ⁷ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”

[27:42]  ⁷ tn Here the aorist imperative καταβάτω (katabatw) has been translated as a conditional imperative. This fits the pattern of other conditional imperatives (imperative + καί + future indicative) outlined by ExSyn 489.

[27:62]  ¹⁰ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:62]  ¹¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 3:7.

[23:2]  ¹³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:2]  ¹⁴ sn They began to accuse him. There were three charges: (1) disturbing Jewish peace; (2) fomenting rebellion through advocating not paying taxes (a lie – 20:20-26); and (3) claiming to be a political threat to Rome, by claiming to be a king, an allusion to Jesus’ messianic claims. The second and third charges were a direct challenge to Roman authority. Pilate would be forced to do something about them.

[23:2]  ¹⁵ tn On the use of the term διαστρέφω (diastrefw) here, see L&N 31.71 and 88.264.

[23:2]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “and forbidding.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated to suggest to the English reader that this and the following charge are specifics, while the previous charge was a summary one. See the note on the word “misleading” earlier in this verse.

[23:2]  ¹⁷ tn This was a “poll tax.” L&N 57.182 states this was “a payment made by the people of one nation to another, with the implication that this is a symbol of submission and dependence – ‘tribute tax.’”

[23:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “to the emperor” (“Caesar” is a title for the Roman emperor).

[23:2]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ¹⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ¹⁹ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ²⁰ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”