John 19

So Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped.

1Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him.

NoteRoman flogging was a legal procedure, not a beating in anger. The victim was stripped and struck with a whip of leather thongs, sometimes weighted with bits of bone or metal. It was often used on its own as a punishment meant to satisfy a crowd, which may be what Pilate intends here, and it also regularly preceded crucifixion.

2The soldiers twisted together a crown out of thorn branches and set it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe.

2And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe,

NotePurple cloth was expensive and was associated with kings and high Roman officials, so the robe and the twisted wreath are a mock coronation. Roman victors and emperors wore wreaths on their heads; the soldiers are making one out of thorn branches.

3They said, "Greetings, King of the Jews!" and they hit him with their hands.

3And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.

Note"Hail" translates the standard shout of salute given to the emperor, so the mockery is that of greeting a head of state. The King James "smote him with their hands" means open handed blows to the face; the Greek verb is the one used for slapping.

4Pilate went outside again and said to them, "Look, I am bringing him out to you so you will know that I find no charge against him."

4Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that ye may know that I find no fault in him.

Note"I find no fault in him" is legal language, not a comment on his character. Pilate is announcing the result of a hearing: he finds no grounds for a charge that Rome would recognize.

5Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"

5Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!

6When the leading priests and the temple guards saw him, they shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "You take him and crucify him, because I find no charge against him."

6When the chief priests therefore and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him: for I find no fault in him.

NoteThe "officers" are the temple guard, Jewish police under the authority of the chief priests, not Roman soldiers. Pilate's reply is sarcastic, since the Jewish authorities had no power to carry out a crucifixion.

7The Jewish leaders answered him, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

7The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.

NoteThe law referred to is the death penalty for blasphemy in Leviticus 24:16. Note also that when John writes "the Jews" in the trial scenes he generally means the ruling authorities in Jerusalem who are pressing the case, not the Jewish people as a whole; Jesus, his mother and his disciples are all Jews as well.

8When Pilate heard that, he was even more afraid.

8When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid;

9He went back into the governor's headquarters and said to Jesus, "Where are you from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

9And went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

NoteThe "judgment hall" is the praetorium, the Roman governor's headquarters in Jerusalem. Pilate was prefect of Judea from about AD 26 to 36; his usual residence was at Caesarea on the coast, and he came up to Jerusalem with troops at festival time, when crowds made unrest likely.

10So Pilate said to him, "Are you refusing to speak to me? Don't you know that I have the power to crucify you and the power to set you free?"

10Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?

NoteThe Greek word behind "power" in this verse and the next means authority, the legal right to act, rather than raw strength. Pilate is claiming jurisdiction over life and death.

11Jesus answered, "You would have no power over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. So the man who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin."

11Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

Note"From above" is genuinely double edged in the Greek and the ambiguity is probably deliberate: the same word can mean from God, and can also simply mean from higher up, that is, from the authority that delegated Pilate his office.

12From then on Pilate tried to set him free. But the Jewish leaders shouted, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who makes himself a king is speaking against Caesar."

12And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.

Note"Friend of Caesar" was close to a formal title, used of men who stood in the emperor's favor and enjoyed his protection. The shout is therefore a veiled threat to report Pilate to Rome, a dangerous thing under Tiberius, who was then emperor.

13When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judge's seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, which in Hebrew is Gabbatha.

13When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth, and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha.

NoteThe "judgment seat" is the bema, a raised platform from which a Roman official delivered a formal verdict; sitting on it marked the sentence as official. What John calls Hebrew is the everyday Semitic language of Judea, Aramaic. Gabbatha and "the Pavement" are not translations of each other: one describes a raised or open place, the other a stone paved area.

14It was the day of preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, "Here is your King!"

14And it was the preparation of the passover, and about the sixth hour: and he saith unto the Jews, Behold your King!

NoteThe day of preparation is the Friday before a Sabbath, when food was cooked and work finished before sundown, here also the preparation connected with Passover. The sixth hour is about noon, since hours were counted from roughly six in the morning. Mark 15:25 places the crucifixion at the third hour, about nine, and the difference between the two accounts has never been fully resolved.

15But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The leading priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

15But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.

NoteJudea was under direct Roman rule, so the chief priests' words are literally true as a statement of political fact, and they are also a formal declaration of loyalty made in front of the governor.

16So then Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away.

16Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

Note"Unto them" is loose in the Greek as well as the King James: the nearest people named are the chief priests, but crucifixion was carried out by Roman soldiers, and verse 23 shows that soldiers did it.

17Carrying his own cross, he went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.

17And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:

NoteA condemned man normally carried only the crossbeam, weighing perhaps eighty to a hundred pounds, out to the place of execution, where the upright post already stood. Golgotha is the Aramaic word for skull; the Latin translation of it gives us the familiar name Calvary. Executions were held outside the city walls.

18There they crucified him, and two other men with him, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

18Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst.

NoteCrucifixion was a Roman public execution reserved for slaves, rebels and the lowest criminals; Roman citizens were exempt from it except in extreme cases. The victim was fixed to the wood by nails or ropes and left exposed, and death came slowly, over hours or days, from exhaustion, blood loss and suffocation as the body sagged. Its purpose was deterrence as much as punishment.

19Pilate also wrote a sign and had it fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

19And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

NoteRoman practice was to display a board, the titulus, stating the crime of the condemned man, either carried before him or fixed above him on the cross. Written as a charge, "King of the Jews" names the offense as claiming a throne, which was treason against Rome.

20Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

20This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.

NoteThe three languages are the ones a crowd in Jerusalem would actually use: Aramaic or Hebrew locally, Greek as the common language of the eastern empire, and Latin as the official language of Roman government.

21So the leading priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but that he said, 'I am King of the Jews.'"

21Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.

22Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

22Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

NotePilate's reply is a flat refusal in the idiom of an official who has signed a document. In Greek the verb is in a tense that stresses a completed act with standing results: the wording is now on record and will not be altered.

23After the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which had no seam, woven in one piece from the top down.

23Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.

NoteThe execution squad customarily took the condemned man's clothing as a perquisite. "Coat" in the King James means the tunic, the long undergarment worn next to the skin, not an outer coat. A tunic woven in one piece rather than sewn from panels was a better and more valuable garment, which is why cutting it up would waste it.

24So they said to each other, "Let's not tear it. Let's throw dice for it to see who gets it." This happened so that the scripture would come true that says, "They divided my clothes among them, and they threw dice for my clothing." So that is what the soldiers did.

24They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.

NoteCasting lots was decided by throwing marked stones, sticks or knucklebones, the ancient equivalent of drawing straws or rolling dice. The quotation is Psalm 22:18; "raiment" and "vesture" are simply older words for clothing.

25Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

25Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

NoteThe list is ambiguous in the Greek and can be read as naming two, three or four women, depending on whether "his mother's sister" and "Mary the wife of Cleophas" are the same person. Cleophas here is usually spelled Clopas in modern versions. Mary Magdalene is named from Magdala, a town on the Sea of Galilee.

26When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son."

26When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

NoteAddressing a woman as "Woman" was ordinary polite speech in Greek, closer to "madam" than to anything curt; it carries none of the coldness the English sounds like today. Jesus uses the same word to his mother at the wedding in Cana in John 2:4.

27Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that time on, that disciple took her into his own home.

27Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

NoteTaking a woman "unto his own" means into his household and under his support. A widow without a son to provide for her had no independent legal standing or income, so this is a practical arrangement for her keeping.

28After this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed. So that the scripture would come true, he said, "I am thirsty."

28After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

Note"I thirst" echoes the wording of Psalm 69:21, where the sufferer is given vinegar to drink.

29A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they soaked a sponge in the wine, put it on a stalk of hyssop, and held it up to his mouth.

29Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

NoteThe "vinegar" is posca, cheap sour wine mixed with water, the ordinary drink of soldiers and laborers; it was not given as a cruelty but as what was at hand. Hyssop is a small bushy plant whose stalks were used to sprinkle blood on the doorposts at the first Passover in Exodus 12:22. Its stems are short for reaching a crucified man, and a few ancient manuscripts read a word meaning javelin instead.

30When Jesus had taken the sour wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

30When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Note"It is finished" is one word in Greek, tetelestai, meaning brought to completion or carried through to its end. The same word turns up on ancient receipts and accounts in the sense of paid in full. "Gave up the ghost" is 1611 English for breathed his last; "ghost" then simply meant spirit.

31It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, since that Sabbath was an especially important day. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies taken down.

31The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

NoteJewish law required a body hung on a tree to be taken down before nightfall (Deuteronomy 21:22 to 23), and the Sabbath began at sunset. Breaking the legs, a Roman practice called crurifragium, made it impossible for the victim to push himself up to breathe and so brought death on within minutes. "An high day" means this Sabbath coincided with the Passover festival, making it more solemn than an ordinary one. "Besought" means asked or petitioned.

32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus.

32Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him.

33But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

33But when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs:

34Instead, one of the soldiers stabbed his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.

34But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

35The man who saw it has given his account of it, and his account is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe.

35And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

Note"Bare record" and "his record" are 1611 English for gave testimony and his testimony. The vocabulary is that of a witness giving evidence, not of keeping a written record.

36These things happened so that the scripture would come true that says, "Not one of his bones will be broken."

36For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

NoteThe wording matches the rule for the Passover lamb, whose bones were not to be broken (Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12), and also Psalm 34:20 about the righteous man.

37And another scripture says, "They will look at the one they pierced."

37And again another scripture saith, They shall look on him whom they pierced.

NoteThe quotation is from Zechariah 12:10.

38After this, Joseph from Arimathaea asked Pilate for permission to take away the body of Jesus. Joseph was a follower of Jesus, but secretly, because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. Pilate gave him permission, so he came and took the body away.

38And after this Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus.

NoteThe bodies of crucified men were normally left on the cross or thrown into a common pit, so releasing a body for private burial was a favor that only the governor could grant. Arimathea was a town in Judea; its exact site is uncertain.

39Nicodemus came too, the man who had first come to Jesus at night. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds in weight.

39And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.

NoteMyrrh is a fragrant resin from a desert shrub, and the aloes here are the scented wood of an eastern tree, ground to powder; both were dry spices packed around a body to offset the smell of decay, not embalming fluids. The "hundred pound weight" is in Roman pounds of about twelve ounces each, so roughly seventy five pounds or thirty four kilograms. That is an enormous quantity, of the order used at a royal funeral.

40So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in strips of linen along with the spices, following the Jewish custom for burial.

40Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

NoteJewish burial did not involve embalming or removing the organs. The body was washed, packed with dry spices and wrapped in strips of linen, then laid in a tomb; a year or so later the bones were collected into a box.

41In the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid.

41Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.

NoteA tomb of this kind was a chamber cut into soft rock, with a low entrance and shelves or niches inside for bodies, closed by a heavy stone. Tombs were normally family property used over generations, so an unused one was both costly and unusual.

42Because it was the Jewish day of preparation, and because the tomb was close by, they laid Jesus there.

42There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

NoteSundown was close, and once the Sabbath began no such work could be done, so the nearness of the tomb decided the matter.