Lukas 23:20-24

23:20 Pilate addressed them once again because he wanted ¹  to release Jesus. 23:21 But they kept on shouting, ²  “Crucify, crucify ³  him!” 23:22 A third time he said to them, “Why? What wrong has he done? I have found him guilty ⁴  of no crime deserving death. ⁵  I will therefore flog ⁶  him and release him.” 23:23 But they were insistent, ⁷  demanding with loud shouts that he be crucified. And their shouts prevailed. 23:24 So ⁸  Pilate ⁹  decided ¹⁰  that their demand should be granted.

[23:20]  ¹ sn The account pictures a battle of wills – the people versus Pilate. Pilate is consistently portrayed in Luke’s account as wanting to release Jesus because he believed him to be innocent.

[23:21]  ² tn Grk “shouting, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated here.

[23:21]  ³ tn This double present imperative is emphatic.

[23:21]  sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman historian Cicero called it “a cruel and disgusting penalty” (Against Verres 2.5.63-66 §§163-70); Josephus (J. W. 7.6.4 [7.203]) called it the worst of deaths.

[23:22]  ⁴ tn Grk “no cause of death I found in him.”

[23:22]  ⁵ sn The refrain of innocence comes once again. Pilate tried to bring some sense of justice, believing Jesus had committed no crime deserving death.

[23:22]  ⁶ tn Or “scourge” (BDAG 749 s.v. παιδεύω 2.b.γ). See the note on “flogged” in v. 16.

[23:23]  ⁷ tn Though a different Greek term is used here (BDAG 373 s.v. ἐπίκειμαι), this remark is like 23:5.

[23:24]  ⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the crowd’s cries prevailing.

[23:24]  ⁹ sn Finally Pilate gave in. He decided crucifying one Galilean teacher was better than facing a riot. Justice lost out in the process, because he did not follow his own verdict.

[23:24]  ¹⁰ tn Although some translations render ἐπέκρινεν (epekrinen) here as “passed sentence” or “gave his verdict,” the point in context is not that Pilate sentenced Jesus to death here, but that finally, although convinced of Jesus’ innocence, he gave in to the crowd’s incessant demand to crucify an innocent man.