Luke 23:27

23:27 A great number of the people followed him, among them women ¹  who were mourning ²  and wailing for him.

Luke 23:35

23:35 The people also stood there watching, but the rulers ridiculed ³  him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save ⁴  himself if ⁵  he is the Christ ⁶  of God, his chosen one!”

[23:27]  ¹ sn The background of these women is disputed. Are they “official” mourners of Jesus’ death, appointed by custom to mourn death? If so, the mourning here would be more pro forma. However, the text seems to treat the mourning as sincere, so their tears and lamenting would have been genuine.

[23:27]  ² tn Or “who were beating their breasts,” implying a ritualized form of mourning employed in Jewish funerals. See the note on the term “women” earlier in this verse.

[23:35]  ³ tn A figurative extension of the literal meaning “to turn one’s nose up at someone”; here “ridicule, sneer at, show contempt for” (L&N 33.409).

[23:35]  ⁴ sn The irony in the statement Let him save himself is that salvation did come, but later, not while on the cross.

[23:35]  ⁵ tn This is a first class condition in the Greek text.

[23:35]  ⁶ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”