Mark 15:17

15:17 They put a purple cloak ¹  on him and after braiding ²  a crown of thorns, ³  they put it on him.

Luke 23:11

23:11 Even Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, ⁴  dressing him in elegant clothes, ⁵  Herod ⁶  sent him back to Pilate.

John 19:2-5

19:2 The soldiers ⁷  braided ⁸  a crown of thorns ⁹  and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe. ¹⁰  19:3 They ¹¹  came up to him again and again ¹²  and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹³  And they struck him repeatedly ¹⁴  in the face.

19:4 Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, ¹⁵  “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation ¹⁶  against him.” 19:5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. ¹⁷  Pilate ¹⁸  said to them, “Look, here is the man!” ¹⁹ 

[15:17]  ¹ sn The purple cloak 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 (cf. 15:2).

[15:17]  ² tn Or “weaving.”

[15:17]  ³ 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.

[23:11]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “And the soldiers.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:2]  ⁸ tn Or “wove.”

[19:2]  ⁹ sn The crown of thorns was a crown plaited of some thorny material, intended as a mockery of Jesus’ “kingship.” Traditionally it has been regarded as an additional instrument of torture, but it seems more probable the purpose of the thorns was not necessarily to inflict more physical suffering but to imitate the spikes of the “radiant corona,” a type of crown portrayed on ruler’s heads on many coins of the period; the spikes on this type of crown represented rays of light pointing outward (the best contemporary illustration is the crown on the head of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor).

[19:2]  ¹⁰ sn The purple color of the robe indicated royal status. This was further mockery of Jesus, along with the crown of thorns.

[19:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:3]  ¹² tn The words “again and again” are implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἤρχοντο (hrconto).

[19:3]  ¹³ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[19:3]  ¹⁴ tn The word “repeatedly” is implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἐδιδοσαν (edidosan).

[19:4]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “to them.” The words “the Jewish leaders” are supplied from John 18:38 for clarity.

[19:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “find no basis for an accusation”; Grk “find no cause.”

[19:5]  ¹⁷ sn See the note on the purple robe in 19:2.

[19:5]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:5]  ¹⁹ sn Look, here is the man! Pilate may have meant no more than something like “Here is the accused!” or in a contemptuous way, “Here is your king!” Others have taken Pilate’s statement as intended to evoke pity from Jesus’ accusers: “Look at this poor fellow!” (Jesus would certainly not have looked very impressive after the scourging). For the author, however, Pilate’s words constituted an unconscious allusion to Zech 6:12, “Look, here is the man whose name is the Branch.” In this case Pilate (unknowingly and ironically) presented Jesus to the nation under a messianic title.