Luke 23:11-12

23:11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, ¹  dressing him in elegant clothes, ²  Herod ³  sent him back to Pilate. 23:12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, ⁴  for prior to this they had been enemies. ⁵ 

Luke 23:15

23:15 Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing ⁶  deserving death. ⁷ 

[23:11]  ¹ tn This is a continuation of the previous Greek sentence, but because of its length and complexity, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying “then” to indicate the sequence of events.

[23:11]  ² sn This mockery involved putting elegant royal clothes on Jesus, either white or purple (the colors of royalty). This was no doubt a mockery of Jesus’ claim to be a king.

[23:11]  ³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ⁴ sn Herod and Pilate became friends with each other. It may be that Pilate’s change of heart was related to the death of his superior, Sejanus, who had a reputation for being anti-Jewish. To please his superior, Pilate may have ruled the Jews with insensitivity. Concerning Sejanus, see Philo, Embassy 24 (160-61) and Flaccus 1 (1).

[23:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “at enmity with each other.”

[23:15]  ⁷ sn With the statement “he has done nothing,” Pilate makes another claim that Jesus is innocent of any crime worthy of death.

[23:15]  ⁸ 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.