Mark 15:1

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

15:1 Early in the morning, after forming a plan, the chief priests with the elders and the experts in the law ¹  and the whole Sanhedrin tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. ² 

Mark 15:8

15:8 Then the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to release a prisoner for them, as was his custom. ³ 

Mark 15:11

15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release ⁴  Barabbas instead.

Mark 15:25

15:25 It was nine o’clock in the morning ⁵  when they crucified him.

Mark 15:33-34

Jesus’ Death

15:33 Now ⁶  when it was noon, ⁷  darkness came over the whole land ⁸  until three in the afternoon. ⁹  15:34 Around three o’clock ¹⁰  Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ¹¹ 

[15:1]  ¹ tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22.

[15:1]  ² sn The Jews most assuredly wanted to put Jesus to death, but they lacked the authority to do so. For this reason they handed him over to Pilate in hopes of securing a death sentence. The Romans kept close control of the death penalty in conquered territories to prevent it being used to execute Roman sympathizers.

[15:8]  ³ tn Grk “Coming up the crowd began to ask [him to do] as he was doing for them.”

[15:11]  ⁴ tn Grk “to have him release for them.”

[15:25]  ⁵ tn Grk “It was the third hour.” This time would have been approximate, and could refer to the beginning of the process, some time before Jesus was lifted on the cross.

[15:33]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

[15:33]  ⁷ tn Grk “When the sixth hour had come.”

[15:33]  ⁸ sn This imagery has parallels to the Day of the Lord: Joel 2:10; Amos 8:9; Zeph 1:15.

[15:33]  ⁹ tn Grk “until the ninth hour.”

[15:34]  ¹⁰ tn The repetition of the phrase “three o’clock” preserves the author’s rougher, less elegant style (cf. Matt 27:45-46; Luke 23:44). Although such stylistic matters are frequently handled differently in the translation, because the issue of synoptic literary dependence is involved here, it was considered important to reflect some of the stylistic differences among the synoptics in the translation, so that the English reader can be aware of them.

[15:34]  ¹¹ sn A quotation from Ps 22:1.