Luke 23:8-12

23:8 When ¹  Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him and was hoping to see him perform ²  some miraculous sign. ³  23:9 So ⁴  Herod ⁵  questioned him at considerable length; Jesus ⁶  gave him no answer. 23:10 The chief priests and the experts in the law ⁷  were there, vehemently accusing him. ⁸  23:11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, ⁹  dressing him in elegant clothes, ¹⁰  Herod ¹¹  sent him back to Pilate. 23:12 That very day Herod and Pilate became friends with each other, ¹²  for prior to this they had been enemies. ¹³ 

[23:8]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[23:8]  ² tn Grk “to see some sign performed by him.” Here the passive construction has been translated as an active one in keeping with contemporary English style.

[23:8]  ³ sn Herod, hoping to see him perform some miraculous sign, seems to have treated Jesus as a curiosity (cf. 9:7-9).

[23:9]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the previous statements in the narrative about Herod’s desire to see Jesus.

[23:9]  ⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:9]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:10]  ⁷ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 5:21.

[23:10]  ⁸ sn Luke portrays the Jewish leadership as driving events toward the cross by vehemently accusing Jesus.

[23:11]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[23:12]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Grk “at enmity with each other.”