Matthew 27:46-49

27:46 At ¹  about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, ²  “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³  27:47 When ⁴  some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” 27:48 Immediately ⁵  one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, ⁶  put it on a stick, ⁷  and gave it to him to drink. 27:49 But the rest said, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to save him.” ⁸ 

Mark 15:34-36

15:34 Around three o’clock ⁹  Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ¹⁰  15:35 When some of the bystanders heard it they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah!” ¹¹  15:36 Then someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, ¹²  put it on a stick, ¹³  and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Leave him alone! Let’s see if Elijah will come to take him down!”

[27:46]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:46]  ² tn Grk “with a loud voice, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[27:46]  ³ sn A quotation from Ps 22:1.

[27:47]  ⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:48]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[27:48]  ⁶ sn Sour wine refers to cheap wine that was called in Latin posca, a cheap vinegar wine diluted heavily with water. It was the drink of slaves and soldiers, and was probably there for the soldiers who had performed the crucifixion.

[27:48]  ⁷ tn Grk “a reed.”

[27:49]  ⁸ tc Early and important mss (א B C L Γ pc) have another sentence at the end of this verse: “And another [soldier] took a spear and pierced him in the side, and water and blood flowed out.” This comment finds such a strong parallel in John 19:34 that it was undoubtedly lifted from the Fourth Gospel by early, well-meaning scribes and inserted into Matt 27:49. Consequently, even though the support for the shorter reading (A D W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat sy sa bo) is not nearly as impressive, internal considerations on its behalf are compelling.

[15:34]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 22:1.

[15:35]  ¹¹ sn Perhaps the crowd thought Jesus was calling for Elijah because the exclamation “my God, my God” (i.e., in Aramaic, Eloi, Eloi) sounds like the name Elijah.

[15:36]  ¹² sn Sour wine refers to cheap wine that was called in Latin posca, a cheap vinegar wine diluted heavily with water. It was the drink of slaves and soldiers, and was probably there for the soldiers who had performed the crucifixion.

[15:36]  ¹³ tn Grk “a reed.”