John 19:4

19:4 Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, ¹  “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation ²  against him.”

John 19:6

19:6 When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they shouted out, “Crucify ³  him! Crucify him!” ⁴  Pilate said, ⁵  “You take him and crucify him! ⁶  Certainly ⁷  I find no reason for an accusation ⁸  against him!”

John 19:21-22

19:21 Then the chief priests of the Jews ⁹  said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The king of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am king of the Jews.’” 19:22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

Matthew 27:18-19

27:18 (For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) ¹⁰  27:19 As ¹¹  he was sitting on the judgment seat, ¹²  his wife sent a message ¹³  to him: ¹⁴  “Have nothing to do with that innocent man; ¹⁵  I have suffered greatly as a result of a dream ¹⁶  about him today.”

Matthew 27:24

Jesus is Condemned and Mocked

27:24 When ¹⁷  Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” ¹⁸ 

Mark 15:14

15:14 Pilate asked them, “Why? What has he done wrong?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”

Luke 23:4

23:4 Then ¹⁹  Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no basis for an accusation ²⁰  against this man.”

Luke 23:14-16

23:14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading ²¹  the people. When I examined him before you, I ²²  did not find this man guilty ²³  of anything you accused him of doing. 23:15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing ²⁴  deserving death. ²⁵  23:16 I will therefore have him flogged ²⁶  and release him.”

Luke 23:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

23:1 Then ²⁷  the whole group of them rose up and brought Jesus ²⁸  before Pilate. ²⁹ 

Luke 1:19

1:19 The ³⁰  angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands ³¹  in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring ³²  you this good news.

Luke 1:1

Explanatory Preface

1:1 Now ³³  many have undertaken to compile an account ³⁴  of the things ³⁵  that have been fulfilled ³⁶  among us,

Luke 2:22-23

Jesus’ Presentation at the Temple

2:22 Now ³⁷  when the time came for their ³⁸  purification according to the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary ³⁹  brought Jesus ⁴⁰  up to Jerusalem ⁴¹  to present him to the Lord 2:23 (just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male ⁴²  will be set apart to the Lord” ⁴³ ),

[19:4]  ¹ tn Grk “to them.” The words “the Jewish leaders” are supplied from John 18:38 for clarity.

[19:4]  ² tn Or “find no basis for an accusation”; Grk “find no cause.”

[19:6]  ³ sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman statesman and orator Cicero (106-43 b.c.) called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.

[19:6]  ⁴ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from context.

[19:6]  ⁵ tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because they are unnecessary in contemporary English style.

[19:6]  ⁶ sn How are Pilate’s words “You take him and crucify him” to be understood? Was he offering a serious alternative to the priests who wanted Jesus crucified? Was he offering them an exception to the statement in 18:31 that the Jewish authorities did not have the power to carry out a death penalty? Although a few scholars have suggested that the situation was at this point so far out of Pilate’s control that he really was telling the high priests they could go ahead and crucify a man he had found to be innocent, this seems unlikely. It is far more likely that Pilate’s statement should be understood as one of frustration and perhaps sarcasm. This seems to be supported by the context, for the Jewish authorities make no attempt at this point to seize Jesus and crucify him. Rather they continue to pester Pilate to order the crucifixion.

[19:6]  ⁷ tn On this use of γάρ (gar) used in exclamations and strong affirmations, see BDAG 190 s.v. γάρ 3.

[19:6]  ⁸ tn Or “find no basis for an accusation”; Grk “find no cause.”

[19:21]  ⁹ 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.”

[27:18]  ¹⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[27:19]  ¹¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:19]  ¹² tn Or “the judge’s seat.”

[27:19]  ¹³ tn The word “message” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[27:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγουσα (legousa) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[27:19]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek particle γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated here.

[27:19]  ¹⁶ tn Or “suffered greatly in a dream.” See the discussion on the construction κατ᾿ ὄναρ (kat’ onar) in BDAG 710 s.v. ὄναρ.

[27:24]  ¹⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:24]  ¹⁸ sn You take care of it yourselves! Compare the response of the chief priests and elders to Judas in 27:4. The expression is identical except that in 27:4 it is singular and here it is plural.

[23:4]  ¹⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[23:4]  ²⁰ tn Grk “find no cause.”

[23:14]  ²¹ tn This term also appears in v. 2.

[23:14]  ²² tn Grk “behold, I” A transitional use of ἰδού (idou) has not been translated here.

[23:14]  ²³ tn Grk “nothing did I find in this man by way of cause.” The reference to “nothing” is emphatic.

[23:15]  ²⁴ sn With the statement “he has done nothing,” Pilate makes another claim that Jesus is innocent of any crime worthy of death.

[23:15]  ²⁵ tn Grk “nothing deserving death has been done by him.” The passive construction has been translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style.

[23:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “scourged” (BDAG 749 s.v. παιδεύω 2.b.γ). This refers to a whipping Pilate ordered in an attempt to convince Jesus not to disturb the peace. It has been translated “flogged” to distinguish it from the more severe verberatio.

[23:1]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[23:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:1]  ²⁹ sn Pilate was the Roman prefect (procurator) in charge of collecting taxes and keeping the peace. His immediate superior was the Roman governor (proconsul) of Syria, although the exact nature of this administrative relationship is unknown. Pilate’s relations with the Jews had been rocky (v. 12). Here he is especially sensitive to them.

[1:19]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[1:19]  ³¹ tn Grk “the one who is standing before God.”

[1:19]  ³² tn Grk “to announce these things of good news to you.”

[1:1]  ³³ tn Grk “Since” or “Because.” This begins a long sentence that extends through v. 4. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, the Greek sentence has been divided up into shorter English sentences in the translation.

[1:1]  ³⁴ tn This is sometimes translated “narrative,” but the term itself can refer to an oral or written account. It is the verb “undertaken” which suggests a written account, since it literally is “to set one’s hand” to something (BDAG 386 s.v. ἐπιχειρέω). “Narrative” is too specific, denoting a particular genre of work for the accounts that existed in the earlier tradition. Not all of that material would have been narrative.

[1:1]  ³⁵ tn Or “events.”

[1:1]  ³⁶ tn Or “have been accomplished.” Given Luke’s emphasis on divine design (e.g., Luke 24:43-47) a stronger sense (“fulfilled”) is better than a mere reference to something having taken place (“accomplished”).

[2:22]  ³⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[2:22]  ³⁸ tc The translation follows most mss, including early and important ones ({א A B L}). Some copyists, aware that the purification law applied to women only, produced mss ({76 it^pt vg} [though the Latin word eius could be either masculine or feminine]) that read “her purification.” But the extant evidence for an unambiguous “her” is shut up to one late minuscule ({codex 76}) and a couple of patristic citations of dubious worth ({Pseudo-Athanasius} whose date is unknown, and the {Catenae in euangelia Lucae et Joannis}, edited by J. A. Cramer. The Catenae is a work of collected patristic sayings whose exact source is unknown [thus, it could come from a period covering hundreds of years]). A few other witnesses (D pc lat) read “his purification.” The KJV has “her purification,” following Beza’s Greek text (essentially a revision of Erasmus’). Erasmus did not have it in any of his five editions. Most likely Beza put in the feminine form αὐτῆς (auths) because, recognizing that the eius found in several Latin mss could be read either as a masculine or a feminine, he made the contextually more satisfying choice of the feminine. Perhaps it crept into one or two late Greek witnesses via this interpretive Latin back-translation. So the evidence for the feminine singular is virtually nonexistent, while the masculine singular αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) was a clear scribal blunder. There can be no doubt that “their purification” is the authentic reading.

[2:22]  ³⁹ tn Grk “they”; the referents (Joseph and Mary) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:22]  ⁴¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:23]  ⁴² tn Grk “every male that opens the womb” (an idiom for the firstborn male).

[2:23]  ⁴³ sn An allusion to Exod 13:2, 12, 15.