Luke 23: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The council brings Jesus to Pilate and accuses him of stirring up the nation, blocking taxes to Caesar, and claiming to be a king. Pilate finds no basis for the charge and sends him to Herod, who mocks him and sends him back; when the crowd keeps demanding crucifixion, Pilate releases Barabbas and hands Jesus over. Jesus is crucified between two criminals, speaks to the women of Jerusalem, to his Father, and to one of the criminals, and dies as darkness covers the land and the temple curtain tears. Joseph of Arimathea buries him in an unused rock tomb, and the women from Galilee see where he is laid and then rest on the Sabbath.

Claim by Claim

1. 23:1
   • The whole assembly of them rose up.
   • They led Jesus to Pilate.
2. 23:2
   • They began to accuse Jesus.
   • They said they had found this man subverting the nation.
   • They said he forbade giving tribute to Caesar.
   • They said he claimed that he himself is Christ, a king.
3. 23:3
   • Pilate asked Jesus whether he was the King of the Jews.
   • Jesus answered him, 'You say so.'
4. 23:4
   • Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds that he found no fault in this man.
5. 23:5
   • They became more insistent.
   • They said Jesus stirs up the people.
   • They said he teaches throughout all Judea.
   • They said he began from Galilee and came as far as this place.
6. 23:6
   • Pilate heard the mention of Galilee.
   • Pilate asked whether the man was a Galilean.
7. 23:7
   • Pilate learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction.
   • Pilate sent Jesus to Herod.
   • Herod was himself in Jerusalem at that time.
8. 23:8
   • Herod saw Jesus.
   • Herod was exceedingly glad.
   • Herod had wanted to see Jesus for a long time.
   • Herod had heard many things about Jesus.
   • Herod hoped to see some sign done by Jesus.
9. 23:9
   • Herod questioned Jesus with many words.
   • Jesus answered him nothing.
10. 23:10
    • The chief priests and scribes stood there.
    • They accused Jesus vehemently.
11. 23:11
    • Herod with his soldiers treated Jesus with contempt.
    • They mocked Jesus.
    • They dressed him in a splendid robe.
    • They sent him back to Pilate.
12. 23:12
    • That same day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other.
    • Before that they had been at enmity with each other.
13. 23:13
    • Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers, and the people.
14. 23:14
    • Pilate said they had brought him this man as one who misleads the people.
    • Pilate said he had examined Jesus in their presence.
    • Pilate said he found no fault in this man concerning the things they accused him of.
15. 23:15
    • Pilate said neither did Herod find fault.
    • Pilate said he had sent them to Herod.
    • Pilate said nothing worthy of death had been done by Jesus.
16. 23:16
    • Pilate said he would therefore punish Jesus and release him.
17. 23:17
    • It was necessary for him to release one prisoner to them at the feast.
18. 23:18
    • They all cried out together.
    • They said, 'Away with this man.'
    • They demanded that Barabbas be released to them.
19. 23:19
    • Barabbas had been thrown into prison for a certain insurrection made in the city and for murder.
20. 23:20
    • Pilate wanted to release Jesus.
    • Pilate spoke to them again.
21. 23:21
    • They shouted, 'Crucify him, crucify him.'
22. 23:22
    • Pilate said to them a third time, 'What evil has this man done?'
    • Pilate said he had found no cause of death in Jesus.
    • Pilate said he would therefore punish Jesus and let him go.
23. 23:23
    • They were insistent with loud voices.
    • They demanded that Jesus be crucified.
    • Their voices and those of the chief priests prevailed.
24. 23:24
    • Pilate gave sentence that their demand should be carried out.
25. 23:25
    • Pilate released to them the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder.
    • That was the man they had asked for.
    • Pilate delivered Jesus to their will.
26. 23:26
    • As they led Jesus away, they seized a man named Simon, a Cyrenian.
    • Simon was coming in from the country.
    • They laid the cross on Simon.
    • Simon was to carry it behind Jesus.
27. 23:27
    • A great crowd of the people followed Jesus.
    • Women also followed him.
    • The women mourned and lamented for him.
28. 23:28
    • Jesus turned to them.
    • Jesus called them daughters of Jerusalem.
    • Jesus told them not to weep for him.
    • Jesus told them to weep for themselves and for their children.
29. 23:29
    • Jesus said days are coming.
    • Jesus said that in those days people will say the barren are blessed.
    • Jesus said they will call blessed the wombs that never bore.
    • Jesus said they will call blessed the breasts that never nursed.
30. 23:30
    • Jesus said that then they will begin to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us.'
    • Jesus said they will say to the hills, 'Cover us.'
31. 23:31
    • Jesus asked what will be done in the dry wood if they do these things in the green wood.
32. 23:32
    • Two others, who were criminals, were also led away with Jesus.
    • They were led away to be put to death.
33. 23:33
    • They came to the place called The Skull.
    • There they crucified Jesus.
    • They crucified the criminals as well.
    • One criminal was on his right hand and the other on his left.
34. 23:34
    • Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them.'
    • Jesus said they do not know what they are doing.
    • They divided his garments.
    • They cast lots.
35. 23:35
    • The people stood watching.
    • The rulers also derided Jesus.
    • The rulers said he saved others.
    • The rulers said let him save himself if he is the Christ, the chosen of God.
36. 23:36
    • The soldiers also mocked Jesus.
    • The soldiers came to him.
    • The soldiers offered him sour wine.
37. 23:37
    • The soldiers said, 'If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.'
38. 23:38
    • An inscription was written over Jesus.
    • The inscription was in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew letters.
    • The inscription read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39. 23:39
    • One of the criminals who were hanged reviled Jesus.
    • He said, 'If you are the Christ, save yourself and us.'
40. 23:40
    • The other criminal answered and rebuked him.
    • He asked whether he did not fear God, since he was under the same condemnation.
41. 23:41
    • He said that they were condemned justly.
    • He said they were receiving what their deeds deserved.
    • He said this man had done nothing wrong.
42. 23:42
    • He said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'
43. 23:43
    • Jesus said to him, 'Truly I say to you.'
    • Jesus said that today he would be with him in paradise.
44. 23:44
    • It was about the sixth hour.
    • Darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.
45. 23:45
    • The sun was darkened.
    • The veil of the temple was torn down the middle.
46. 23:46
    • Jesus cried out with a loud voice.
    • Jesus said, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.'
    • Having said this, Jesus expired.
47. 23:47
    • The centurion saw what happened.
    • The centurion glorified God.
    • The centurion said that this man was certainly righteous.
48. 23:48
    • All the crowds that had gathered for this spectacle saw the things that happened.
    • They beat their breasts.
    • They returned home.
49. 23:49
    • All those who knew Jesus stood at a distance.
    • The women who had followed him from Galilee also stood at a distance.
    • They watched these things.
50. 23:50
    • There was a man named Joseph.
    • Joseph was a council member.
    • Joseph was a good and righteous man.
51. 23:51
    • Joseph had not consented to their decision and deed.
    • Joseph was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews.
    • Joseph was waiting for the kingdom of God.
52. 23:52
    • Joseph went to Pilate.
    • Joseph asked for the body of Jesus.
53. 23:53
    • Joseph took the body down.
    • Joseph wrapped it in a linen cloth.
    • Joseph laid it in a tomb cut in rock.
    • No one had ever been laid in that tomb before.
54. 23:54
    • That day was the day of Preparation.
    • The sabbath was beginning.
55. 23:55
    • The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed.
    • They saw the tomb.
    • They saw how his body was laid.
56. 23:56
    • They returned.
    • They prepared spices and ointments.
    • They rested on the sabbath according to the commandment.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

23:1

Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea from about AD 26 to 36. The Jewish council could hold a trial and reach a verdict, but only the Roman governor could order an execution, which is why the case is brought to him.

23:2

The charges are deliberately framed as crimes against Rome. "Perverting the nation" in the King James means stirring it up or turning it away from its loyalty; refusing the tribute, the tax paid by subject peoples to the emperor, was open rebellion. "Christ" is the Greek word for "anointed one," the Hebrew "Messiah," a title for the king God would raise up; to Roman ears the word "king" alone was enough, since only Caesar appointed kings.

23:3

"Thou sayest it" is a sideways answer, and Greek readers would have heard it as such. It neither denies the title nor claims it in Pilate's sense; it throws the words back on the man who chose them.

23:4

"I find no fault in this man" is legal language, not a comment on his character. Pilate is saying he can find no chargeable offense.

23:5

"Jewry" is the King James word for Judea, the Roman province around Jerusalem. Galilee, in the north, was a separate territory under a different ruler.

23:7

This is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled Galilee under Rome. Roman practice allowed a governor to pass a case to the authority of the accused man's home district, which gave Pilate a way to hand the problem on. Antipas would have been in Jerusalem for the Passover festival.

23:8

This is the same Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist executed, and who had heard reports of Jesus for months. He wants a display, the way a bored ruler wants an entertainer at court.

23:10

"Scribes" were the trained experts in the Jewish scriptures and law, the men who could argue a case from the sacred texts.

23:11

"Set him at nought" means treated him as worth nothing. The "gorgeous robe" is part of the mockery: dressing a prisoner in fine clothing acts out the royal claim being laughed at.

23:14

"Perverteth the people" in 1611 English means stirring them up to revolt, not corrupting their morals. Pilate is repeating the political charge back to the accusers.

23:16

"Chastise" sounds mild in modern English but means a Roman flogging, a serious and bloody punishment with a whip. Pilate is offering it as a lesser penalty instead of death.

23:17

This verse is missing from the oldest Greek manuscripts of Luke and many modern Bibles print it in brackets or drop it. It describes a custom, otherwise known from the other Gospels, of releasing one prisoner as a goodwill gesture at the Passover festival.

23:18

"Away with this man" is a shout for his removal and death, not merely for him to be taken out of sight.

23:19

"Sedition" means armed revolt against Roman rule. Barabbas is charged with exactly the crime Jesus has been accused of and cleared of.

23:21

Crucifixion was a Roman public execution reserved for slaves, rebels and the lowest criminals, designed to be slow, humiliating and visible. Roman citizens were normally exempt from it.

23:22

"I have found no cause of death in him" means no offense that carries the death penalty.

23:23

"They were instant" is old English for they kept pressing, urgently and without letting up.

23:26

Cyrene was a city on the North African coast, in what is now Libya, with a large Jewish population. Roman soldiers had the legal right to force a bystander into service. The condemned man normally carried the crossbeam, not the whole cross, to the execution site.

23:27

"Bewailed and lamented" describes loud public mourning, the expected and audible grief of a funeral procession rather than quiet crying.

23:28

"Daughters of Jerusalem" simply means the women of the city. Jesus turns their mourning forward, toward what is coming to Jerusalem itself.

23:29

In this society childlessness was a misfortune and often a public disgrace, so calling barren women "blessed" reverses the ordinary valuation entirely. It is a way of saying the coming disaster will be so severe that having no children to lose will count as good fortune. "Paps" is the King James word for breasts, and "gave suck" means nursed.

23:30

These words are quoted from the prophet Hosea, where people beg to be buried under a landslide rather than face what is coming.

23:31

A proverb drawn from firewood: green, living wood resists burning and dry wood goes up at once. The saying works by comparison without spelling out the comparison, and it has been read in more than one way.

23:32

"Malefactors" is the King James word for wrongdoers or criminals. The Greek term is general and does not say what crime they committed.

23:33

"Calvary" comes from the Latin word for skull, translating the Greek "Kranion," which in turn translates the Aramaic "Golgotha." Why the place carried that name is not explained; suggestions have included the shape of the rock and its use as an execution ground.

23:34

The sentence "Father, forgive them" is absent from several of the oldest manuscripts, and many modern Bibles mark it as uncertain. Dividing a condemned man's clothing was a recognized perk of the execution squad, and "cast lots" means they drew or threw for it, much like drawing straws.

23:35

"Derided" means sneered at or jeered. "The chosen of God" is a title language, not a description: it names the one God has picked out for a special role.

23:36

"Vinegar" here is posca, the cheap sour wine that Roman soldiers drank as a ration. Offering it can be read as a rough kindness or as part of the mockery, and the Greek does not settle which.

23:38

Roman practice was to post the charge above a crucified man, so the passing public could read what the crime was. The three languages were the ones a Jerusalem crowd would read: Greek for common trade, Latin for the Roman administration, Hebrew or Aramaic for the local population.

23:39

"Railed on him" means hurled abuse at him.

23:40

To "fear God" here means to know God is great and take him seriously.

23:41

"Nothing amiss" means nothing out of place or wrong; it is a statement that he is not guilty of a crime.

23:43

"Paradise" is a Persian loanword that came into Greek meaning a walled garden or park. In Jewish writing of this period it had become a name for the place where the righteous dead are kept. "Verily I say unto thee" is a strong formula of assurance, roughly "I tell you this for a fact."

23:44

Hours were counted from sunrise, so the sixth hour is about midday and the ninth about three in the afternoon. The darkness therefore falls at the brightest part of the day and lasts about three hours. "All the earth" translates a Greek word that can equally mean the whole land, that is, the region rather than the planet.

23:45

The "veil" was the heavy curtain inside the temple screening off the innermost room, which only the high priest entered and only once a year. "Rent" means torn.

23:46

The words are a quotation from Psalm 31, a line a Jewish child was taught to say at bedtime. "Gave up the ghost" is the King James phrase for died; "ghost" here means breath or spirit, with none of the modern sense of a haunting.

23:47

A centurion commanded a unit of roughly eighty to a hundred soldiers. The Greek word he uses, dikaios, can mean either "innocent" in the legal sense, that is, wrongly convicted, or "righteous" in the moral sense; translators have to choose, and the two readings pull in different directions.

23:48

"Smote their breasts" describes beating the chest with the fist, a recognized public gesture of grief or remorse.

23:50

"Counsellor" means a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council that had just handed Jesus over. "Just" in the King James means upright or law abiding, not merely fair minded.

23:51

Arimathea was a town in Judea; its exact location is no longer certain. "Waited for the kingdom of God" describes someone expecting God to act and set things right, a hope widely held at the time.

23:52

"Begged" here means formally requested, not pleaded in the street. The request mattered because Roman practice was to leave crucified bodies on the cross as a warning, and burial required the governor's permission.

23:53

A "sepulchre hewn in stone" is a chamber cut into a rock face, with a shelf or niche inside for the body and a stone to close the entrance. The linen was a wrapping cloth; the body was not embalmed.

23:54

"The preparation" is the Friday, the day for getting food and work finished before the Sabbath. The Jewish day began at sunset, so "the sabbath drew on" means nightfall was close and the burial had to be quick.

23:56

The spices and perfumed oils were for anointing the body, a customary honor to the dead rather than an attempt to preserve it. The commandment they obeyed is the Sabbath rest of the Ten Commandments, which is why they had to wait rather than finish the job at once.

Where the Manuscripts Differ

Worth knowing before you stand up: a listener following a modern translation may not have this verse in front of them.

23:17

Most modern translations leave this verse out. It is in the Greek text the King James translators worked from, but not in the older manuscripts found since, so scholars generally take it as a copyist’s addition rather than part of the original.