Matthew 27:24-31

Jesus is Condemned and Mocked

27:24 When ¹  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!” ²  27:25 In ³  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 27:26 Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, ⁴  he handed him over ⁵  to be crucified. ⁶  27:27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence ⁷  and gathered the whole cohort ⁸  around him. 27:28 They ⁹  stripped him and put a scarlet robe ¹⁰  around him, 27:29 and after braiding ¹¹  a crown of thorns, ¹²  they put it on his head. They ¹³  put a staff ¹⁴  in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: ¹⁵  “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹⁶  27:30 They ¹⁷  spat on him and took the staff ¹⁸  and struck him repeatedly ¹⁹  on the head. 27:31 When ²⁰  they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then ²¹  they led him away to crucify him.

[27:24]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:24]  ² 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.

[27:25]  ³ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[27:26]  ⁴ tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (fragellow) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”

[27:26]  ⁵ tn Or “delivered him up.”

[27:26]  ⁶ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[27:27]  ⁷ tn Or “into their headquarters”; Grk “into the praetorium.”

[27:27]  ⁸ sn A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, about 500-600 soldiers.

[27:28]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:28]  ¹⁰ sn The scarlet robe probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king.

[27:29]  ¹¹ tn Or “weaving.”

[27:29]  ¹² sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.

[27:29]  ¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:29]  ¹⁴ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

[27:29]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they mocked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

[27:29]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[27:30]  ¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:30]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the reed.”

[27:30]  ¹⁹ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

[27:31]  ²⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:31]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.