Mark 15

Early in the morning, right away, the chief priests made their plan together with the elders, the teachers of the law, and the whole ruling council. They tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.

1And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate.

NoteThe council is the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court in Jerusalem. It was made up of the chief priests (the senior temple officials and former high priests), the elders (heads of leading families) and the scribes (trained specialists in the law). Pilate was the Roman prefect who governed Judea. Under Roman rule the council could try a case, but only the governor could order an execution, so a capital charge had to be taken to him and had to be put in terms Rome would act on.

2Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered him, "You have said so."

2And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? And he answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.

Note"King of the Jews" is the charge in Roman terms: claiming to be a king meant rebellion against Caesar, which is why Pilate asks about that and nothing else. Jesus' reply, literally "You say so," neither denies the words nor simply agrees with them; it hands them back to the man who chose them.

3The chief priests accused him of many things, but he did not answer.

3And the chief priests accused him of many things: but he answered nothing.

4So Pilate questioned him again: "Aren't you going to answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against you."

4And Pilate asked him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? behold how many things they witness against thee.

5But Jesus still said nothing, and Pilate was amazed.

5But Jesus yet answered nothing; so that Pilate marvelled.

6Now at the feast Pilate used to set free one prisoner for the people, whichever one they asked for.

6Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.

NoteThe feast is Passover, when Jerusalem filled with pilgrims and the risk of unrest was highest. A regular Passover amnesty of this kind is not recorded outside the Gospels, though Roman officials elsewhere are known to have released prisoners to please a crowd.

7There was a man named Barabbas, who was in prison along with the rebels who had killed someone during the uprising.

7And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.

NoteThe name Barabbas is Aramaic, bar-Abba, meaning "son of the father" or "son of Abba," Abba also being an ordinary personal name. The uprising referred to seems to have been an event Mark's first readers knew about; no other record of it survives.

8The crowd shouted out and began to ask Pilate to do for them what he had always done.

8And the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them.

9Pilate answered them, "Do you want me to set free for you the King of the Jews?"

9But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews?

10He said this because he knew the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they were jealous of him.

10For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy.

11But the chief priests stirred up the crowd, so that Pilate would set Barabbas free for them instead.

11But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.

12Pilate spoke to them again: "Then what do you want me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?"

12And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews?

13They shouted back again, "Crucify him!"

13And they cried out again, Crucify him.

NoteCrucifixion was a Roman public execution used mainly on slaves, rebels and provincials without Roman citizenship. The victim was fastened to an upright beam by ropes or nails and left in the open, often for a day or more, until he suffocated or his heart failed. It was designed to be slow, visible and degrading, a deterrent as much as a punishment.

14Pilate said to them, "Why? What wrong has he done?" But they shouted even louder, "Crucify him!"

14Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.

15So Pilate, wanting to keep the crowd happy, set Barabbas free for them. He had Jesus whipped, and then handed him over to be put to death on a cross.

15And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.

NoteThe whipping was the Roman flogging that normally preceded crucifixion: a short whip with weighted or bone-tipped thongs, laid on the bare back with no fixed number of strokes. It was severe enough that prisoners sometimes died under it.

16The soldiers led him away into the courtyard of the governor's palace, called the Praetorium, and they called the whole company of soldiers together.

16And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band.

NoteThe Praetorium was the governor's official residence and headquarters while he was in the city. The "whole band" of the King James is a cohort, a Roman unit of several hundred men; here it means the detachment on duty rather than a full complement.

17They dressed him in a purple robe, twisted thorn branches into a crown, and set it on his head.

17And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,

NotePurple cloth was expensive and was associated with royalty and high office, so a purple robe was the obvious prop for a mock king. The crown of thorns imitates the spiked radiate crown shown on coins of Hellenistic and Roman rulers.

18Then they began to greet him: "Hail, King of the Jews!"

18And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews!

Note"Hail, King of the Jews" parodies the formal Roman greeting to the emperor, "Ave, Caesar."

19They kept hitting him on the head with a stick and spitting on him. They also got down on their knees and bowed low in front of him.

19And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him.

NoteIn 1611 "worshipped" covered any act of homage to a superior, including kneeling before a king, and did not necessarily mean religious worship. The soldiers are miming court ceremony as a joke.

20When they had finished making fun of him, they took the purple robe off him and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

20And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.

21A man named Simon, from Cyrene, was passing by on his way in from the countryside. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. The soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.

21And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.

NoteRoman soldiers had the legal right to press civilians into carrying loads or running errands for them, and refusal was not an option. Cyrene was a city in North Africa, in what is now Libya, with a large Jewish population. The condemned man normally carried only the crossbeam, not the whole cross. Mark names Alexander and Rufus as though his readers would recognize them.

22They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha, a name that means "The Place of a Skull."

22And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull.

NoteGolgotha is the Aramaic word for skull, which is why Mark stops to translate it. The name probably describes the shape of the rise, not a heap of bones. The Latin form of the same word gives the traditional English name Calvary.

23They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, a bitter spice, but he would not take it.

23And they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not.

NoteMyrrh is a fragrant gum resin from a desert shrub, bitter to the taste, used in perfume, incense and medicine. Wine drugged in this way was offered to dull the pain of execution.

24When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes among themselves, throwing lots to decide what each man would take.

24And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.

NoteThe clothing of an executed man was the perquisite of the squad that killed him. Casting lots means drawing or throwing marked pieces, much like rolling dice, to decide who got what. The wording deliberately echoes Psalm 22:18, "They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

25It was the third hour of the day when they crucified him.

25And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.

NoteHours were counted from sunrise, so the third hour is around nine in the morning. These were not clock times: the daylight period was divided into twelve parts, so an "hour" was longer in summer and shorter in winter, and a stated hour usually means the general part of the day.

26The written notice of the charge against him said: THE KING OF THE JEWS.

26And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

NoteRoman practice was to display the charge on a board, either carried in front of the condemned man or fixed above him on the cross, so that onlookers knew what the execution was for.

27They crucified two robbers with him, one on his right side and one on his left.

27And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.

NoteThe King James "thieves" translates a Greek word for armed bandits or brigands. It was also the term Romans used for insurgents, so these may have been men involved in the same kind of uprising as Barabbas rather than simple burglars.

28So what the scripture says came true: "He was counted among the lawbreakers."

28And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors.

ManuscriptsMost 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.

NoteThis verse is missing from the oldest surviving manuscripts of Mark and appears to have been added later by a copyist drawing on Luke 22:37. The words quoted come from Isaiah 53:12. Many modern Bibles print the chapter without it, which is why verse numbers sometimes appear to skip.

29People who walked by insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, "Ha! You were going to tear down the temple and build it again in three days.

29And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,

NoteShaking or wagging the head was a recognized gesture of scorn, as in Psalm 22:7. The remark about the temple refers back to the accusation made at the trial in Mark 14:58.

30Save yourself and come down from the cross!"

30Save thyself, and come down from the cross.

31In the same way the chief priests and the teachers of the law made fun of him among themselves, saying, "He saved other people, but he cannot save himself.

31Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.

32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we can see it and believe." Even the men who were crucified with him insulted him.

32Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.

Note"Christ" is not a name but the Greek word Christos, which translates the Hebrew Messiah, "anointed one." Kings were anointed with oil at their accession, so the title is a royal one, which is why it stands here next to "King of Israel."

33When the sixth hour came, darkness covered the whole land until the ninth hour.

33And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

NoteThe sixth hour is around midday and the ninth hour around three in the afternoon. The word behind "the whole land" can mean the region of Judea or the earth as a whole; Greek does not settle which is meant.

34At the ninth hour Jesus called out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" This means, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

NoteMark gives the cry in Aramaic, the everyday language of Jesus and his hearers, and then translates it for his Greek readers. The words are the opening line of Psalm 22. Manuscripts differ slightly over the spelling, some reading Eloi and others Eli.

35Some of the people standing nearby heard it and said, "Listen, he is calling Elijah."

35And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias.

NoteThe mishearing works in the original: "Eloi" sounds like "Eliyya," the Aramaic form of Elijah. Elijah was the prophet who, according to 2 Kings 2, was taken up to heaven without dying, and popular expectation held that he would return and come to the aid of the righteous in distress.

36One man ran, soaked a sponge in sour wine, put it on a stick, and held it up for Jesus to drink. He said, "Leave him alone. Let's see whether Elijah will come to take him down."

36And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down.

NoteThe "vinegar" of the King James is posca, a cheap sour wine mixed with water that was the ordinary drink of soldiers and workmen. Offering it was a way of reviving the man and keeping him conscious longer, not simply an insult. "Let alone" renders a word that can mean either "stop" addressed to the man with the sponge, or "wait and see" addressed to the bystanders.

37Then Jesus gave a loud cry and died.

37And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.

Note"Gave up the ghost" is 1611 English for breathed his last. "Ghost" there means breath or spirit and carries no suggestion of an apparition.

38The curtain in the temple was torn in two, from the top all the way down to the bottom.

38And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.

NoteThe temple had two great curtains: one at the entrance to the sanctuary, visible from the outer courts, and an inner one screening the Holy of Holies, the innermost room that only the high priest entered, once a year. Mark does not say which one he means. "Rent in twain" is simply torn in two.

39The centurion, the Roman officer standing there facing him, saw how Jesus cried out and died, and he said, "This man really was the Son of God."

39And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

NoteA centurion commanded roughly eighty men and would have been the officer in charge of the execution detail. The Greek has no definite article here, so "a son of God" is as possible a translation as "the Son of God." In the mouth of a Roman soldier the phrase was one used of emperors and of heroic men, and the Greek leaves the force of it open.

40There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome.

40There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;

NoteMagdalene means "from Magdala," a town on the Sea of Galilee. Joses is a Greek form of the name Joseph. "The less" translates a word meaning small, which could refer to age, to height, or to standing; it is probably used to distinguish this James from better known men of the same name.

41These women had followed Jesus and taken care of his needs when he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up to Jerusalem with him were there too.

41(Who also, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and ministered unto him;) and many other women which came up with him unto Jerusalem.

Note"Ministered unto him" means they provided for him and looked after his practical needs, which in the ancient world included paying the costs of a traveling group. Luke 8:3 names women who supported Jesus out of their own resources.

42Evening had now come, and it was Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath.

42And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,

NoteThe Sabbath ran from sunset to sunset, so Friday afternoon was the last chance to work. Preparation Day is the name for that Friday, when everything needed for the Sabbath had to be got ready in advance. Jewish law also required that the body of an executed man be buried the same day (Deuteronomy 21:22-23), which is why the burial is so hurried.

43So Joseph from Arimathea, a respected member of the ruling council, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

43Joseph of Arimathaea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus.

Note"Counsellor" means a member of the council of verse 1, the Sanhedrin. "Craved" in the King James means asked for or requested, with no sense of longing or begging. The boldness lay in the request itself: Rome normally left crucified bodies unburied as a warning, and asking for the corpse of a man executed for claiming kingship exposed Joseph as a sympathizer.

44Pilate was surprised that Jesus was already dead. He called for the centurion and asked him whether Jesus had been dead for some time.

44And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead.

NotePilate's surprise is the point: crucifixion usually killed slowly, often over a day or two, so death within a few hours was unusual enough to need checking.

45When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.

45And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph.

46Joseph bought a fine linen cloth, took the body down, wrapped it in the cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone across the entrance of the tomb.

46And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre.

NoteLinen was the customary wrapping for a corpse. A rock-cut tomb was a chamber quarried out of a limestone hillside, with a shelf or niche inside for the body, and was expensive enough to mark Joseph as a wealthy man. The entrance was low and was closed with a large stone, sometimes a disc rolled in a groove and sometimes a shaped block wedged into place.

47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses watched where the body was laid.

47And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses beheld where he was laid.