Matius 14:8-10

14:8 Instructed by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 14:9 Although it grieved the king, ¹  because of his oath and the dinner guests he commanded it to be given. 14:10 So ²  he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

Matius 27:23-26

27:23 He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!”

Jesus is Condemned and Mocked

27:24 When ³  Pilate saw that he could do nothing, but that instead a riot was starting, he took some water, washed his hands before the crowd and said, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. You take care of it yourselves!” ⁴  27:25 In ⁵  reply all the people said, “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” 27:26 Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, ⁶  he handed him over ⁷  to be crucified. ⁸ 

[14:9]  ¹ tn Grk “and being grieved, the king commanded.”

[14:9]  sn Herod was technically not a king, but this reflects popular usage. See the note on tetrarch in 14:1.

[14:10]  ² tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[27:24]  ³ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[27:24]  ⁴ sn You take care of it yourselves! Compare the response of the chief priests and elders to Judas in 27:4. The expression is identical except that in 27:4 it is singular and here it is plural.

[27:25]  ⁵ tn Grk “answering, all the people said.” This construction is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[27:26]  ⁶ tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (fragellow) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”

[27:26]  sn A Roman flogging (traditionally, “scourging”) was an excruciating punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him (or sometimes he was thrown to the ground). Guards standing on either side of the victim would incessantly beat him with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a beating died as a result. See C. Schneider, TDNT, 515-19.

[27:26]  ⁷ tn Or “delivered him up.”

[27:26]  ⁸ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.