The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark14:53–65

Jesus before the Sanhedrin

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Mark 14:53–65 — Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

53

They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders, and scribes assembled.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai apēgagon ton Iēsoun pros ton archierea kai pantes hoi archiereis kai hoi presbyteroi kai hoi grammateis synerchontai

Word by word18 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀπήγαγονapēgagonThey ledG520
√ ἀπάγω — to take off (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
apagō: to take off, lead away The verb of custody. From this word onward Jesus is moved, not moving: He is led away here, He will be led away to Pilate, and finally led out to be crucified. In Mark the last free act of His will was the surrender in Gethsemane.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesus {away}G2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀρχιερέαarchiereahigh priestG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
archiereus: high priest Strong's notes the term is used “literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ.” That double use is the quiet irony of the whole unit: the acting high priest examines the true High Priest, and will tear his own robes over the answer.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πάντεςpantesallG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
pas: all, every, the whole The first of two “alls” that frame the trial (here and v. 64). Maclaren reads the unanimity as the measure of the nation's sin, noting that Joseph of Arimathea, the one exception, appears to have been absent or silent.
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερεῖςarchiereischief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πρεσβύτεροιpresbyteroieldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
presbyteros: older, elder The lay aristocracy of the council, named between priests and scribes so that the three constituencies of the Sanhedrin are complete. Geneva says plainly why the full court was summoned: Christ was arraigned as blasphemer and false prophet.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
γραμματεῖςgrammateisscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounNominative Masculine Plural
συνέρχονταιsynerchontaiassembledG4905
√ συνέρχομαι — to convene, depart in company with, associate with, or (specially), cohabit (conjugally)VerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Plural
synerchomai: to convene, come together Historic present, and the only present-tense verb in the verse. The court is still gathering as Mark writes, which sharpens the injustice: the verdict of v. 64 is already fixed while the members are still taking their seats.
54

Peter followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. And he sat with the officers and warmed himself by the fire.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

kai ho Petros ēkolouthēsen autō apo makrothen heōs eis esō tēn aulēn tou archiereōs kai ēn synkathēmenos meta tōn hypēretōn kai thermainomenos pros to phōs

Word by word25 · parsed
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠέτροςPetrosPeterG4074
√ Πέτρος — a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος))NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἠκολούθησενēkolouthēsenfollowedG190
√ ἀκολουθέω — properly, to be in the same way with, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
akoloutheō: to follow, to be in the same way with The verb of Mark 1:18 and 8:34, where following is bound to the cross. Here the same verb survives only as a physical trailing at a distance. Mark does not call Peter a traitor; he simply lets the vocabulary of discipleship shrink to its outer shell.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἀπὸapoatG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
μακρόθενmakrothena distanceG3113
√ μακρόθεν — from a distance or afarAdverb
makrothen: from a distance, afar Adverb, G3113. The Verifier finds it in fourteen verses, and it is the same word Matthew 26:58 uses in the parallel. A relatively uncommon term, and Mark makes it the hinge of the whole clause.
ἕωςheōsrightG2193
√ ἕως — a conjunction, preposition and adverb of continuance, until (of time and place)Preposition
εἰςeisvvvG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἔσωesōintoG2080
√ ἔσω — inside (as preposition or adjective)Adverb
τὴνtēntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
αὐλὴνaulēncourtyardG833
√ αὐλή — a yard (as open to the wind)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
aulē: courtyard, a yard open to the wind Not a palace hall but the open quadrangle. JFB, quoting Robinson, reconstructs the architecture: an interior court open to the sky, reached by a passage from the street, where the attendants made their fire. That layout is why Luke can report that Jesus turned and looked at Peter.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀρχιερέωςarchiereōshigh priestG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἦνēnvvvG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
συνκαθήμενοςsynkathēmenoshe satG4775
√ συγκάθημαι — to seat oneself in company withVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
synkathēmai: to sit down together with Present participle in a periphrastic imperfect, a sustained posture rather than a moment. The Verifier finds this lexeme in only two verses of the New Testament, the other being Acts 26:30, where those seated with Festus and Agrippa rise from another hearing of the gospel.
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ὑπηρετῶνhypēretōnofficersG5257
√ ὑπηρέτης — an under-oarsman, iNounGenitive Masculine Plural
hypēretēs: an under-oarsman, officer, servant The word literally names the rower on the lower bank of a ship, and so an underling who carries out another's will. The same hypēretai reappear at v. 65 as the men who strike Jesus. Peter is warming himself among the hands that will land the blows.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
θερμαινόμενοςthermainomenoswarmed himselfG2328
√ θερμαίνω — to heat (oneself)VerbPresent Participle MiddleNominative Masculine Singular
πρὸςprosbyG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
φῶςphōsfireG5457
√ φῶς — compare G5316 (φαίνω), G5346 (φημί))NounAccusative Neuter Singular
phōs: light Ellicott and Pulpit both insist on the literal sense, and both see why it matters: the charcoal glare is what exposes Peter's features. In Mark, the only light in the courtyard belongs to the enemies of Christ, and it is the light that finds the disciple out.
55

Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, but they did not find any.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi archiereis kai to holon synedrion ezētoun martyrian kata tou Iēsou eis to thanatōsai auton kai ouch hēuriskon

Word by word19 · parsed
δὲdeNowG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερεῖςarchiereischief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Plural
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Neuter Singular
ὅλονholonwholeG3650
√ ὅλος — "whole" or "all", iAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
συνέδριονsynedrionSanhedrinG4892
√ συνέδριον — a joint session, iNounNominative Neuter Singular
synedrion: a joint session, council Literally a “sitting together,” the same root idea as Peter's synkathēmenos in v. 54. Mark calls it holon, the whole of it, matching the “all” of v. 53 and the “all” of v. 64. Cambridge adds the legal requirement this body was breaking: two witnesses had to agree on a specific charge.
ἐζήτουνezētounwere seekingG2212
√ ζητέω — to seek (literally or figuratively)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
zēteō: to seek Imperfect of durative search. Gill cites the council's own canon from Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:1, that in capital causes the court begins for acquittal and not for condemnation, and observes that this court was seeking evidence with which to begin for condemnation. The illegality is measured by their own rule book.
μαρτυρίανmartyriantestimonyG3141
√ μαρτυρία — evidence given (judicially or genitive case)NounAccusative Feminine Singular
martyria: evidence given judicially The word that will govern vv. 55, 56 and 59, failing each time. Mark builds the section on the collapse of testimony, so that when Jesus finally testifies about Himself in v. 62 His word is the only evidence the court ever gets, and it is enough for them.
κατὰkataagainstG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦIēsouJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
εἰςeistoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
τὸtoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
θανατῶσαιthanatōsaiput Him to deathG2289
√ θανατόω — become dead, (cause to be) put to death, kill, mortifyVerbAorist Infinitive Active
thanatoō: to put to death Aorist infinitive under eis to, a purpose clause. The death is the premise of the trial, not its conclusion. Benson notes the bitter irony that the chief priests and elders were the very men charged by Deuteronomy 19:16 with prosecuting false witnesses.
αὐτόνauton. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaibutG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐχouchvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ηὕρισκονhēuriskonthey did not find [any]G2147
√ εὑρίσκω — to find (literally or figuratively)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
heuriskō: to find Negated imperfect. Benson calls the failure “an amazing proof of the overruling providence of God,” given the authority and the rewards at the court's disposal. Maclaren turns it into evidence for the defence: the eagerness to find witnesses against Jesus is itself witness for Him.
56

For many bore false witness against Jesus, but their testimony was inconsistent.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar polloi epseudomartyroun kat’ autou kai hai martyriai ēsan ouk isai

Word by word11 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
πολλοὶpolloimanyG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
polys: much, many The crowd of accusers is part of the indictment. JFB infers from the court's “seeking” that these many were bribed, and cross-refers the same scene at Acts 6:11-14 against Stephen.
ἐψευδομαρτύρουνepseudomartyrounbore false witnessG5576
√ ψευδομαρτυρέω — to be an untrue testifier, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
pseudomartyreō: to bear false witness A rare verb, found in five New Testament verses. Three of those are the Decalogue quoted by Jesus to the rich man (Mark 10:19; Matthew 19:18; Luke 18:20). The court that condemns Him is caught by the Verifier committing, in Mark's own vocabulary, the commandment Mark's Jesus had recited.
κατ’kat’againstG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
αὐτοῦautou[Jesus]G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaibutG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αἱhaitheirG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Plural
μαρτυρίαιmartyriaitestimonyG3141
√ μαρτυρία — evidence given (judicially or genitive case)NounNominative Feminine Plural
martyria: evidence, testimony Plural, and so a heap of separate statements rather than an agreed case. Gill cites the rabbinic requirement that two witnesses testify “as one,” without which the testimony is not ratified in the council.
ἦσανēsanwasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἴσαιisaiinconsistentG2470
√ ἴσος — similar (in amount and kind)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Plural
isos: equal, similar in amount and kind The pivot of the verse, and genuinely contested. JFB and Cambridge take it as mutual disagreement between witnesses; Gill and Benson (with Hammond and Campbell) take it as insufficiency, testimony not equal to a capital charge. Mark leaves it open, and the honest reading holds both possibilities.
57

Then some men stood up and testified falsely against Him:

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai tines anastantes epseudomartyroun kat’ autou legontes

Word by word7 · parsed
ΚαίKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τινεςtinessome [men]G5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
tis: some or any person Indefinite. Mark will use the same word at v. 65 for “some of them” who begin to spit. The anonymity is consistent: in this scene no accuser has a name, and no accuser survives cross-examination.
ἀναστάντεςanastantesstood upG450
√ ἀνίστημι — to stand up (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
anistēmi: to stand up, rise Aorist participle of the standing required of a witness. The lexeme is common (the Verifier counts 107 verses), so nothing rare is being claimed here; the weight lies in the courtroom gesture Gill documents from Deuteronomy 19:17, that both men shall stand.
ἐψευδομαρτύρουνepseudomartyroun[and] testified falselyG5576
√ ψευδομαρτυρέω — to be an untrue testifier, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
pseudomartyreō: to bear false witness Imperfect again, the third attempt at a case.
κατ’kat’againstG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
αὐτοῦautouHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγοντεςlegontesG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
Participle of legō, introducing direct speech; the quotation follows in v. 58.
58

“We heard Him say, ‘I will destroy this man-made temple, and in three days I will build another that is made without hands.’”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Hoti Hēmeis ēkousamen autou legontos hoti Egō katalysō touton ton cheiropoiēton ton naon kai dia triōn hēmerōn oikodomēsō allon acheiropoiēton

Word by word20 · parsed
ὍτιHotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἩμεῖςHēmeisWeG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Plural
ἠκούσαμενēkousamenheardG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active1st Person Plural
akouō: to hear Aorist, first person plural: “we heard.” The same verb returns in v. 64 on the high priest's lips, “you have heard the blasphemy.” The court that could not evaluate what it heard from witnesses pronounces instantly on what it hears from the Accused.
αὐτοῦautouHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγοντοςlegontossayG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveGenitive Masculine Singular
ὅτιhotiG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
ἘγὼEgōIG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
καταλύσωkatalysōwill destroyG2647
√ καταλύω — to loosen down (disintegrate), iVerbFuture Indicative Active1st Person Singular
kataluō: to loosen down, disintegrate Future active. Gill is exact about the falsification: Christ did not say He would destroy any temple, only put the Jews on doing it; did not mean the temple at Jerusalem but His own body; did not use the hand-made and not-hand-made distinction; and did not say He would build another. Four separate alterations in one sentence of testimony.
τοῦτονtoutonthisG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
χειροποίητονcheiropoiētonman-madeG5499
√ χειροποίητος — manufactured, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
cheiropoiētos: made with hands, manufactured ⚙ Our reading, offered to be checked: in the Greek Old Testament this adjective is characteristically used of idols, things men make, so that applying it to the sanctuary itself is a slur. The brief's sources do not make that point, and a reader should test it. What the sources do say is decisive enough: Cambridge holds that the very opposition of hand-made and not-hand-made is the proof of the accusation's falseness.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ναὸνnaontempleG3485
√ ναός — a fane, shrine, templeNounAccusative Masculine Singular
naos: a shrine, sanctuary The dwelling place proper, not the courts. This is the word John uses when he explains that Jesus “spake of the temple of his body,” and the word Paul will use of the believer. Maclaren draws the consequence: the saying “referred to His body which is the true Temple,” and the symbolic temple made with hands is so bound to the real that the fate of the one determines the other.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
διὰdiainG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
τριῶνtriōnthreeG5140
√ τρεῖς — "three"AdjectiveGenitive Feminine Plural
ἡμερῶνhēmerōndaysG2250
√ ἡμέρα — day, iNounGenitive Feminine Plural
οἰκοδομήσωoikodomēsōI will buildG3618
√ οἰκοδομέω — to be a house-builder, iVerbFuture Indicative Active1st Person Singular
oikodomeō: to build a house Future active. In John 2:19 the verb is egerō, “I will raise up,” the resurrection word. The witnesses have swapped a resurrection verb for a construction verb, which is how a promise about a body becomes a boast about masonry.
ἄλλονallonanother [that is]G243
√ ἄλλος — "else," iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀχειροποίητονacheiropoiētonmade without handsG886
√ ἀχειροποίητος — unmanufactured, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
acheiropoiētos: unmanufactured, not made with hands Three New Testament verses hold this rare word, and the other two carry its whole theology: the eternal house of 2 Corinthians 5:1 and the circumcision not made with hands of Colossians 2:11. Ellicott hears a further echo in the “more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” of Hebrews 9:11. The slanderers, garbling, have put the New Covenant's own adjective into the record.
59

But even their testimony was inconsistent.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai autōn hē martyria ēn houtōs oude isē

Word by word8 · parsed
καὶkaiBut evenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτῶνautōntheirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
μαρτυρίαmartyriatestimonyG3141
√ μαρτυρία — evidence given (judicially or genitive case)NounNominative Feminine Singular
martyria: testimony Singular at last. JFB explains why so short a speech could still fail: in such a charge everything hung on the precise terms alleged, and a slight turn either way made the words either indictable or a ridiculous ground for a capital charge. Cambridge quotes Westcott on the surviving variants: “I can destroy” (Matthew 26:61), “I will destroy” (Mark 14:58), against John's “Destroy … and I will raise.”
ἦνēnwasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
οὕτωςhoutōsG3779
√ οὕτω — in this way (referring to what precedes or follows)Adverb
houtō: in this way, thus Small word, large hinge. It concedes that this attempt was the court's best and still marks it a failure.
οὐδὲoudevvvG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iAdverb
ἴσηisēinconsistentG2470
√ ἴσος — similar (in amount and kind)AdjectiveNominative Feminine Singular
isos: equal The third and final failure of evidence. Everything after this verse rests on what Jesus says about Himself, which is why Maclaren can call the section the condemnation which condemns the judges.
60

So the high priest stood up before them and questioned Jesus, “Have You no answer? What are these men testifying against You?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho archiereus anastas eis meson epērōtēsen ton Iēsoun legōn Ouk apokrinē ouden ti houtoi katamartyrousin sou

Word by word17 · parsed
ΚαὶKai[So]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀρχιερεὺςarchiereushigh priestG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἀναστὰςanastasstood upG450
√ ἀνίστημι — to stand up (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
anistēmi: to stand up The same participle the false witnesses took in v. 57, now on the judge. Mark's structure is deliberate: witnesses rise and fail, and then the judge rises to do their work for them.
εἰςeisvvvG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
μέσονmesonbefore themG3319
√ μέσος — middle (as an adjective or (neuter) noun)AdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
mesos: middle, midst Gill reconstructs the room from Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:3: the president at the head, the father of the court at his right, the council seated before him in a semicircle like the half of a round threshing floor. To stand “into the midst” is to step off the bench and onto the floor, abandoning the posture of a judge for that of a prosecutor.
ἐπηρώτησενepērōtēsen[and] questionedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eperōtaō: to interrogate, ask for Aorist. JFB reads the motive plainly: the case had failed, and by this artful question Caiaphas hoped to get from Jesus' own mouth what the witnesses could not supply. Pulpit adds the reason silence was the right answer: any reply would be twisted, and the charge itself was too vague and garbled to answer.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
λέγωνlegōnG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
ΟὐκOukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἀποκρίνῃapokrinēHave You no answerG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive2nd Person Singular
apokrinomai: to conclude for oneself, answer Present middle, second person singular. Strong's root sense, “to conclude for oneself,” is worth weighing: the high priest is demanding that Jesus render His own judgement on the evidence.
οὐδένouden. . .G3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
τίtiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
οὗτοίhoutoi{are} these [men]G3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Masculine Plural
καταμαρτυροῦσινkatamartyrousintestifying againstG2649
√ καταμαρτυρέω — to testify againstVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
katamartyreō: to testify against A rare compound (three verses). Matthew 27:13 uses it of Pilate's identical question at the next tribunal, so the same hostile word frames both trials of Jesus.
σουsouYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
61

But Jesus remained silent and made no reply. Again the high priest questioned Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho esiōpa kai ouk apekrinato ouden Palin ho archiereus epērōta auton kai legei autō ei Sy ho Christos ho Huios tou Eulogētou

Word by word23 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐσιώπαesiōpa[Jesus] remained silentG4623
√ σιωπάω — properly, muteness, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
siōpaō: to be silent, muteness Imperfect, a sustained silence. Gill's account is that Christ knew an answer would be to no purpose and signified that the allegations were unworthy of one. ⚙ Structurally this is the hinge of the unit: the only evidence the court will ever obtain must come from the mouth that has refused to speak, and it comes only when the question is finally about His identity rather than His alleged threats.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἀπεκρίνατοapekrinatomade no replyG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
οὐδένouden. . .G3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
ΠάλινPalinAgainG3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀρχιερεὺςarchiereushigh priestG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπηρώταepērōtaquestionedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eperōtaō: to interrogate Imperfect against the aorist of v. 60. JFB, reading Matthew 26:63 alongside, observes that this second question was put under adjuration, “I adjure Thee by the living God,” which under Leviticus 5:1 made an answer legally obligatory. That is why the silence ends here and not earlier.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγειlegeiG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτῷautōG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἶeiAreG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ΣὺSyYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΧριστὸςChristosChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Christos: anointed The official title, the King Messiah, which Cambridge renders from the Aramaic as “the Malcha Meschicha.” Paired immediately with Son of the Blessed, the question puts the office and the person together, and JFB argues it is this double confession, not the answer to Pilate, that 1 Timothy 6:13 calls the good confession.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸςHuiosSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounNominative Masculine Singular
huios: son Henry reads the question simply: “Art thou the Son of the Blessed? that is, the Son of God.” The article is definite in the Greek, ho Huios, not a son among many.
τοῦtouof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ΕὐλογητοῦEulogētouBlessed [One]G2128
√ εὐλογητός — adorableAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
eulogētos: adorable, blessed Gill documents the rabbinic idiom behind it, the standing abbreviation for “the holy blessed he,” blessed in Himself and the fountain of blessing to His creatures. ⚙ Note that this same reverential habit reappears in Jesus' answer, where He says “the Power” rather than the divine name: accuser and Accused share a piety of speech, and differ only about who is seated at the right hand.
62

“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Egō eimi de Ho eipen Iēsous kai opsesthe ton Huion tou anthrōpou kathēmenon ek dexiōn tēs dynameōs kai erchomenon meta tōn nephelōn tou ouranou

Word by word24 · parsed
ἘγώEgōIG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 1st Person Singular
egō: I The pronoun is unnecessary for the grammar and therefore carries the stress. Cambridge: the supreme moment had at length arrived, and He now replied.
εἰμιeimiamG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
eimi: I exist (used only when emphatic) ⚙ Readers reasonably hear an echo of the divine name here. We state the honest limit: the phrase egō eimi is ordinary Greek for “I am [he],” and none of the commentators in this brief presses it as a theophanic formula; JFB and Cambridge both read it simply as the plain affirmative the adjuration required. The weight of the verse lies in what follows the affirmation, not in the copula.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipensaidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὄψεσθεopsestheyou will seeG3708
√ ὁράω — by extension, to attend toVerbFuture Indicative Middle2nd Person Plural
horaō: to see, to attend to Future middle, second plural. The verb of witness returns, but now the judges are the ones who will see, and what they will see is the evidence they could not manufacture.
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΥἱὸνHuionSonG5207
√ υἱός — a "son" (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinshipNounAccusative Masculine Singular
huios / anthrōpos: Son of Man Jesus answers a question about the Son of the Blessed by naming Himself Son of Man, which is Daniel's title for the figure who comes with the clouds and receives dominion. Cambridge cites Daniel 7:13 and Psalm 8:4 here, Gill cites Daniel 7:13. The self-designation is not a retreat into humility; it is the claim that escalates the charge.
τοῦtouG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἀνθρώπουanthrōpouof ManG444
√ ἄνθρωπος — from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι))NounGenitive Masculine Singular
καθήμενονkathēmenonsittingG2521
√ κάθημαι — and (to sitVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
kathēmai: to sit Present participle: a seated state. Psalm 110:1's invitation to sit at the right hand is the wording behind it. ⚙ In a room where the council sits in a semicircle and the high priest has just left his seat to stand on the floor, the picture of a seated Son of Man is a claim about which court is real.
ἐκekatG1537
√ ἐκ — literal or figurativePreposition
δεξιῶνdexiōn[the] right handG1188
√ δεξιός — the right side or (feminine) hand (as that which usually takes)AdjectiveGenitive Neuter Plural
τῆςtēsofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
δυνάμεωςdynameōsPowerG1411
√ δύναμις — force (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
dynamis: force, power Used as a name for God, a surrogate of the same kind as Eulogētos in v. 61. The two circumlocutions face each other across the exchange.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐρχόμενονerchomenoncomingG2064
√ ἔρχομαι — to come or go (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
erchomai: to come or go Present participle, paired with the sitting. Gill leaves the timing open: “either at the destruction of Jerusalem, or at the last day, referring to the prophecy in Daniel 7:13.”
μετὰmetawithG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Plural
νεφελῶνnephelōncloudsG3507
√ νεφέλη — properly, cloudiness, iNounGenitive Feminine Plural
nephelē: cloudiness, clouds The Verifier finds this lexeme in twenty-one verses, among them Revelation 1:7, which joins the same clouds to the same verb of seeing: every eye shall see Him. The clouds are Daniel's, and in Scripture they are the vehicle of the divine presence, not weather.
τοῦtouofG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
οὐρανοῦouranouheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounGenitive Masculine Singular
63

At this, the high priest tore his clothes and declared, “Why do we need any more witnesses?

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho archiereus diarrēxas autou tous chitōnas legei Ti chreian echomen eti martyrōn

Word by word13 · parsed
δὲdeAt thisG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀρχιερεὺςarchiereushigh priestG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Singular
διαρρήξαςdiarrēxastoreG1284
√ διαῤῥήσσω — to tear asunderVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
diarrhēssō: to tear asunder Aorist participle. Cambridge notes the prescribed manner: performed standing, with the rent running from the neck straight downwards. ⚙ The gesture is a verdict rendered in cloth, and it precedes the vote it is meant to compel.
αὐτοῦautouhisG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τοὺςtousG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
χιτῶναςchitōnasclothesG5509
√ χιτών — a tunic or shirtNounAccusative Masculine Plural
chitōn: a tunic or shirt Ten verses in the New Testament carry this word. One of them is John 19:23, where the soldiers decline to tear the seamless tunic of Jesus. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme; the contrast between the two garments is our own reading and is marked as such in the Christ section.
λέγειlegei[and] declaredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΤίTiWhyG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
χρείανchreiando we needG5532
√ χρεία — employment, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
ἔχομενechomen. . .G2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Plural
ἔτιetiany moreG2089
√ ἔτι — "yet," still (of time or degree)Adverb
μαρτύρωνmartyrōnwitnessesG3144
√ μάρτυς — a witness (literally (judicially) or figuratively (genitive case))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
martys: a witness The persons, not the evidence. Gill's paraphrase is worth having: no need to trouble ourselves to see for any more, or to hear and take the depositions of any others. The court's own failure is quietly conceded in the act of declaring the question closed.
64

You have heard the blasphemy. What is your verdict?” And they all condemned Him as deserving of death.

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Greek — tap a word ↓

ēkousate tēs blasphēmias ti hymin phainetai de Hoi pantes katekrinan auton einai enochon thanatou

Word by word14 · parsed
ἠκούσατεēkousateYou have heardG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
akouō: to hear Aorist, second plural, the same verb the false witnesses used in v. 58 (“we heard him say”). ⚙ Mark's court hears twice: once a garbled report it cannot use, and once a plain statement it will not weigh. Luke, JFB notes, sharpens the self-congratulation: “For we ourselves have heard of His own mouth.”
τῆςtēstheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
βλασφημίαςblasphēmiasblasphemyG988
√ βλασφημία — vilification (especially against God)NounGenitive Feminine Singular
blasphēmia: vilification, especially against God The charge is now named for the first time, and it is capital under Leviticus 24:16, which JFB cites. Geneva had already told us at v. 53 that this, and not treason, was what the full council was convened to try; the treason charge is manufactured later for Pilate.
τίtiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Neuter Singular
ὑμῖνhyminis yourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
φαίνεταιphainetaiverdictG5316
√ φαίνω — to lighten (shine), iVerbPresent Indicative Middle or Passive3rd Person Singular
phainō: to shine, to appear Present middle or passive. The judges are asked what shows itself to them, and the answer they give is unanimous within a sentence of hearing.
δὲdeAndG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
πάντεςpantesthey allG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
κατέκρινανkatekrinancondemnedG2632
√ κατακρίνω — to judge against, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
katakrinō: to judge against, condemn Aorist. Cambridge marks the limit of the power exercised: “though they thus passed sentence, they could not execute it,” the right of capital punishment having passed to Rome when Judaea became a province, so the matter must go to the governor.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
εἶναιeinaiasG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Infinitive Active
ἔνοχονenochondeservingG1777
√ ἔνοχος — liable to (a condition, penalty or imputation)AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
enochos: liable to a condition or penalty Held fast by the penalty, with death in the genitive as the thing to which He is bound. ⚙ The court's own word turns out to be the most accurate thing said that night, though not in the sense the court intended: He is indeed bound over to death, and Geneva at v. 55 has already said why, that He was condemned for confessing God to be His Father “so that we, who denied God and were indeed wicked, might be acquitted before God.”
θανάτουthanatouof deathG2288
√ θάνατος — (properly, an adjective used as a noun) death (literally or figuratively)NounGenitive Masculine Singular
65

Then some of them began to spit on Him. They blindfolded Him, struck Him with their fists, and said to Him, “Prophesy!” And the officers received Him with slaps in His face.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai tines ērxanto emptyein autō kai perikalyptein autou to prosōpon kai kolaphizein auton kai legein autō Prophēteuson kai hoi hypēretai elabon auton rhapismasin

Word by word23 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiThenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τινεςtinessome [of them]G5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounNominative Masculine Plural
ἤρξαντόērxantobeganG756
√ ἄρχομαι — to commence (in order of time)VerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Plural
archomai: to commence One aorist of beginning over four present infinitives. Cambridge sets the hour and the custom: about three in the morning, with a prisoner under sentence handed over to the mockery of his guards.
ἐμπτύεινemptyeinto spit onG1716
√ ἐμπτύω — to spit at or onVerbPresent Infinitive Active
emptyō: to spit at or on Matthew 26:67 has the same rare verb (the Verifier counts six verses) and specifies spitting into the face. Cambridge documents the force of the insult from Numbers 12:14 and Deuteronomy 25:9, and notes it fell specially on the excommunicated.
αὐτῷautōHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
περικαλύπτεινperikalypteinThey blindfolded HimG4028
√ περικαλύπτω — to cover all around, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
perikalyptō: to cover all around Three New Testament verses hold this verb, one of them Luke 22:64, which preserves the full taunt: who is it that struck you. ⚙ The logic of the mockery is exact and vicious. They condemn Him for claiming an office, then demand He exercise it, then blind Him first so that He cannot.
αὐτοῦautou. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
τὸto. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
πρόσωπονprosōpon. . .G4383
√ πρόσωπον — the front (as being towards view), iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
prosōpon: the front, the face Pulpit: “That Divine face, to be reverenced and adored by every creature, was exposed to this vile contumely; and he bore it patiently,” quoting Isaiah on shame and spitting. The face hidden here is the face Isaiah 50:6 says the Servant did not hide.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
κολαφίζεινkolaphizeinstruck Him with their fistsG2852
√ κολαφίζω — to rap with the fistVerbPresent Infinitive Active
kolaphizō: to rap with the fist Five New Testament verses. The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme with 2 Corinthians 12:7, where the thorn buffets Paul, and with 1 Corinthians 4:11, where the apostles are buffeted as a class. ⚙ The fists that fall on Jesus here give the church a verb for its own treatment, which is the pattern Poole draws at v. 53: the servants of God who are thus treated are “in this more like Christ.”
αὐτὸνauton. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
λέγεινlegeinsaidG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
αὐτῷautōto HimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ΠροφήτευσονProphēteusonProphesyG4395
√ προφητεύω — to foretell events, divine, speak under inspiration, exercise the prophetic officeVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
prophēteuō: to foretell, speak under inspiration Aorist imperative, a single demand. ⚙ Geneva told us at v. 53 that He was arraigned “as a blasphemer and a false prophet.” Here the second half of the charge is turned into a game: the court has condemned the claim and the guards now require the performance. Mark leaves the answer out, and the silence of v. 61 is still holding.
καὶkaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οἱhoitheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ὑπηρέταιhypēretaiofficersG5257
√ ὑπηρέτης — an under-oarsman, iNounNominative Masculine Plural
ἔλαβονelabonreceivedG2983
√ λαμβάνω — while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent, to seize or remove))VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
lambanō: to take, receive Aorist, with the dative of instrument. The verb of receiving a guest, used of a beating.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ῥαπίσμασινrhapismasinwith slaps in His faceG4475
√ ῥάπισμα — a slapNounDative Neuter Plural
rhapisma: a slap Three New Testament verses, the other two being John 18:22 and John 19:3, the blows before Annas and before Pilate. The rare noun ties all three tribunals together; in each the men who deliver it are officers acting for a court.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. A court that had already decided — 53-55

Mark opens with a verb of custody, ἀπήγαγον (G520, “to take off”), and a verb in the historic present, συνέρχονται, so that Jesus is already being led while the council is still taking its seats. Benson supplies the sequence the other Gospels fill in, that He went “To Annas first, who had been high-priest, and afterward to his son-in-law, Caiaphas”; Cambridge and Pulpit agree, both citing John 18:13. Geneva explains why the full court sat: “The highest council was assembled because Christ was accused as a blasphemer and a false prophet,” the treason charge being reserved for Pilate. Poole's judgement on the procedure is blunt and worth keeping in the record: “their keeping a court of judgment in a capital case on a holy day, or in the night, were things against all rules of order.” Gill presses the point from the court's own canon in Mishnah Sanhedrin, that in capital causes a court begins for acquittal and never for condemnation, yet here ἐζήτουν (imperfect, they kept seeking) governs an articular purpose clause, εἰς τὸ θανατῶσαι αὐτόν: the object of the evidence was the execution. Maclaren states it without hedging: “The criminal is condemned before He is tried,” and “the Sanhedrim is not a court of justice, but a slaughter-house.” Benson, a gentler reader, still finds the failure astonishing given the authority and the bribes available, calling it “an amazing proof of the overruling providence of God.” ⚙ The narrative frame around this is Peter, following with the discipleship verb ἠκολούθησεν (G190) and instantly qualifying it, ἀπὸ μακρόθεν, then συνκαθήμενος with the hypēretai who will strike Jesus twelve verses later. Ellicott insists the last noun is literally light, not fire: the only illumination in the courtyard belongs to the prosecution, and Pulpit notes it is the light that exposes Peter's face.

ii. The garbled word about the sanctuary — 56-59

Three times the evidence fails, and Mark marks each failure with ἴσος (G2470), “equal.” Benson lays out the genuine dispute over that adjective: the Vulgate reads convenientia testimonia non erant, but Hammond and Campbell take it to mean the testimony was not equal to a capital charge, Campbell adding that “there is nothing in the whole narrative that insinuates the smallest discrepancy among the witnesses.” Gill agrees: their witness “was not so, ‘equal’, was not answerable to their desires.” JFB and Cambridge take the other reading, mutual contradiction, Cambridge quoting Wyclif's “þe witnessingis weren not couenable” and the two-witness law of Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15. ⚙ Mark does not adjudicate, and neither should we. What the Greek does show is a narrowing: plural μαρτυρίαι in v. 56, singular μαρτυρία in v. 59, with οὐδὲ οὕτως, “not even thus,” conceding that this was the court's best attempt. The charge itself turns on a change of person and mood. Pulpit states the forgery exactly: “He did not say, ‘I will destroy;’ but ‘Do ye destroy, and I will rebuild.’” Gill counts four separate alterations. Ellicott notes that the hand-made and not-hand-made antithesis is peculiar to Mark and hears an echo of it at Hebrews 9:11, and Cambridge finds in that very opposition “proof of the falseness of the accusation.” Maclaren goes further than any of them, and his reading deserves to be weighed rather than assumed: the garbled saying “represented Jesus as the restorer of that which Israel should destroy,” so that the rulers heard, distorted, the sentence that might have taught them that “in slaying Jesus they were throwing down the Temple and all which centred in it.” Benson adds the quiet vindication: to find any charge at all they had to reach back three years to John 2:19, which is “a glorious, though silent attestation” of the whole public ministry.

iii. Silence, then “I am” — 60-62

Caiaphas leaves the bench. ἀναστὰς εἰς μέσον, “standing up into the midst,” is what Cambridge calls “a graphic touch which we owe to St Mark alone,” and Gill's reconstruction of the semicircular chamber shows what the movement costs: the president steps onto the floor and takes up the office of prosecutor. JFB reads the motive: the case had failed, and “by this artful question the high priest hoped to get from His own mouth what they had in vain tried to obtain.” Jesus answers with the imperfect ἐσιώπα, a sustained silence; Pulpit explains it as the only dignified treatment of a garbled charge. Then the question changes. Ellicott notes that where Matthew and Luke write “the Son of God,” Mark keeps the Jewish reverential surrogate ὁ Εὐλογητός, “the Blessed One,” and Benson (citing Macknight) calls it “a very sublime and emphatical method of expressing the happiness of God.” JFB adds from Matthew that the question came under oath, an adjuration which “was understood to render an answer legally necessary (Le 5:1).” The answer is two words: Ἐγώ εἰμι. Cambridge: “Thus adjured, the Lord broke the silence He had hitherto maintained. His answer to such a question must be liable to no misinterpretation.” JFB sees “the conscious majesty of Jesus” break out from behind the cloud, and identifies this, not the exchange with Pilate, as the good confession of 1 Timothy 6:13. What follows is a composite: the sitting at the right hand is the language of Psalm 110:1, the coming with the clouds that of Daniel 7:13, and Cambridge, Gill and JFB all name those texts. ⚙ Note the grammar: καθήμενον and ἐρχόμενον are both present participles, states rather than events, and ὄψεσθε is second person plural. The men who will not see the evidence are told they will see Him. Pulpit lets the reversal speak: “the day is at hand when I, who am now a prisoner at your judgment seat, shall sit on the throne of glory as the Judge of you and of all mankind.”

iv. The torn robe and the covered face — 63-65

The verb διαρρήξας (G1284) means to tear asunder, and Pulpit notes it “implies violent dramatic action,” describing the two-handed rip from the neck opening down to the waist. Ellicott observes that Mark uses χιτῶνας, the inner garments, where Matthew uses the outer. Benson and Cambridge handle the legal difficulty carefully and in different directions: Benson holds that the prohibitions of Leviticus 10 and 21 “relate only to the pontifical garments and to private mourning,” and that rending ordinary clothes over public wickedness was neither unlawful nor unusual; Cambridge says flatly it “was not lawful for him to do in cases of mourning (Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10), but was allowable in cases of blasphemy.” Pulpit records a further ancient reading: “Some of the Fathers think that by this action Caiaphas involuntarily typified the rending of the priesthood from himself and from the Jewish nation.” JFB grounds the sentence in statute, that blasphemy was capital “according to the Jewish law (Le 24:16),” and Ellicott corrects a common misreading of the English: “guilty of death” follows old usage and attaches guilty not to the crime but to the punishment. Cambridge names the limit on their power: “though they thus passed sentence, they could not execute it,” the right having been taken from them when Judaea became a Roman province. Then the grammar collapses into a string of present infinitives under one aorist, ἤρξαντο: to spit at, to cover around, to rap with the fist, to say. Ellicott catches the cruelty of the sequence exactly: the covering of the face “gave point to the taunt ‘Prophesy.’ They blindfolded the Prophet, and then called on Him to use His power of supernatural vision.” Gill and JFB both name Isaiah 50:6 here, and Cambridge closes with the line that sums the unit: “The hands they bound had healed the sick, and raised the dead; the lips they smote had calmed the winds and waves.”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by Scripture. Mark has built the unit on a single word for evidence, μαρτυρία, and then made that word fail three times: the testimonies were not equal, and not even thus was the testimony equal. A court which cannot produce evidence finally asks the Accused to supply it, and He does. The confession of v. 62 is therefore the only testimony in the chapter that stands, and it is self-testimony given under oath by the one person in the room who is not lying. ⚙ Read this way, the trial does not fail; it is inverted. The rising up of the witnesses (ἀναστάντες, v. 57) is answered by a Son of Man who will be seen sitting and coming; the destruction they falsely charge Him with plotting is the destruction they are at that moment carrying out on the true ναός; the robe torn by the high priest is torn in the presence of the High Priest whose own tunic, John records, would be left whole. ⚙ Two cautions against over-reading. First, Mark never says the court knew what it was doing; JFB argues on evidence from Matthew 27:63 that the ecclesiastics did understand the saying about the temple, but that is an inference, and a careful one, not a statement of Mark's. Second, the timing of “you will see” is genuinely disputed among the sources in this brief: Gill offers the destruction of Jerusalem or the last day; JFB, weighing Matthew's “from this time” and Luke's “from now,” insists the glorification begins that night. This reading does not settle that question. ⚙ What it does claim is simpler: the one charge that ever held against Jesus was the truth He told about Himself, and the court's own verdict, ἔνοχον θανάτου, liable to death, turns out to be the accurate description of what He came to be.

The only charge that ever held against Jesus was the truth He told about Himself. (This line is synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The court breaks the commandment Jesus had recited to them verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb Mark uses twice for the witnesses, ἐψευδομαρτύρουν (G5576 pseudomartyreō), is rare: the Verifier finds it in only five New Testament verses. Three of the other four are the Decalogue on Jesus' own lips, and one of those is in this same Gospel, where He tells the rich man “Do not bear false witness” (Mark 10:19). ⚙ Mark has not commented on the irony; his vocabulary does it for him. Benson makes the equivalent point from the Law's side, that the chief priests and elders were the officers charged by Deuteronomy 19:16 with prosecuting false witnesses and were “now ringleaders in a crime that tended to the overthrow of all justice.”

Mark 10:19 · Matthew 19:18 · Luke 18:20

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G5576 ψευδομαρτυρέω (in 5 vv), a rare verb; the linked verses are the Decalogue's ninth commandment quoted by Jesus, all within the Greek New Testament

Not made with hands: the adjective the slanderers accidentally supplied verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἀχειροποίητος (G886) occurs in only three New Testament verses. Here it is put into Jesus' mouth by false witnesses; at 2 Corinthians 5:1 it names the eternal house not made with hands; at Colossians 2:11 the circumcision not made with hands. The Verifier records the 2 Corinthians link as also sharing καταλύω (G2647, in 16 vv), the very verb of the charge, since Paul writes of the earthly tent being dissolved. Ellicott hears the same note again at Hebrews 9:11, “the more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands.” ⚙ The perjurers reached for a sneer and handed the New Covenant one of its keywords.

2 Corinthians 5:1 · Colossians 2:11

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G886 ἀχειροποίητος (in 3 vv, rare) and, with 2 Corinthians 5:1, G2647 καταλύω (in 16 vv); Greek to Greek, no quotation claimed between the passages, the link is the rare shared adjective

Blindfolded and struck: the taunt in Luke and Matthew verbal / quotation: confirmed

Mark's three infinitives of abuse are matched almost word for word in the parallels. περικαλύπτω (G4028, “to cover all around”) appears in only three New Testament verses, one of them Luke 22:64, which supplies the taunt in full: who is it that struck you. Matthew 26:67 shares κολαφίζω (G2852, in 5 vv) and ἐμπτύω (G1716, in 6 vv). Ellicott explains why the covering matters: it is what “gave point to the taunt ‘Prophesy.’ They blindfolded the Prophet, and then called on Him to use His power of supernatural vision.”

Luke 22:64 · Matthew 26:67

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4028 περικαλύπτω (in 3 vv, rare) with Luke 22:64, and G2852 κολαφίζω (in 5 vv) plus G1716 ἐμπτύω (in 6 vv) with Matthew 26:67; synoptic parallels, Greek to Greek

The slap: the same rare noun at both tribunals verbal / quotation: confirmed

ῥάπισμα (G4475, “a slap”) is found in only three New Testament verses. Besides this one they are John 18:22, where an officer strikes Jesus before Annas, and John 19:3, where the soldiers do it before Pilate. The Verifier also links John 18:22 to this unit by ὑπηρέτης (G5257, in 20 vv), the officer class Peter was sitting among in v. 54. ⚙ Three tribunals, three slaps, one vocabulary: Mark's hypēretai in v. 65 are doing what the same word does everywhere Jesus is tried.

John 18:22 · John 19:3

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4475 ῥάπισμα (in 3 vv, rare) and G5257 ὑπηρέτης (in 20 vv) with John 18:22; Greek to Greek within the New Testament, no quotation claimed

Sitting with them: Peter at the fire, and a later court rising structural / thematic: confirmed

συγκάθημαι (G4775) is the rarest lexeme in this unit: the Verifier finds it in two verses of the New Testament. The other is Acts 26:30, where Agrippa, Festus, Bernice and “those seated with them” rise at the end of another hearing at which Christ has been confessed. The Verifier also records ἀνίστημι (G450, in 107 vv) as shared, the verb of the witnesses rising in v. 57 and of the high priest rising in v. 60. ⚙ We tier this below the lexical evidence on purpose: two verses is as rare as a lexeme gets, but a single shared posture verb is a thin basis for calling this a verbal link, and no one quotes anyone. What the pairing yields is a motif, the seat taken beside the world's tribunal, and in Mark it is the disciple who takes it.

Acts 26:30

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4775 συγκάθημαι (in 2 vv) and G450 ἀνίστημι (in 107 vv); the lexeme is maximally rare, but we under-claim to structural because the shared motif, not any quotation or borrowing, is what the pairing actually establishes

The Son of Man at the right hand: Psalm 110 and Daniel 7 in one sentence structural / thematic: confirmed

Jesus' answer joins two Old Testament texts. “Sitting at the right hand” is the language of Psalm 110:1, and “coming with the clouds of heaven” is Daniel 7:13; Cambridge names both (with Psalm 8:4), and Gill names Daniel 7:13 as the reference for the clouds. ⚙ This is a real verbal borrowing: the wording belongs to the Psalm and to Daniel, not to Mark. But the refs cross the Testaments, and shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed between Hebrew and Greek, so the badge is tiered structural rather than verbal, and the basis says so plainly. The substitution matters as much as the quotation: Mark writes τῆς δυνάμεως, “the Power,” where the Psalm says the LORD, a reverential surrogate matching “the Blessed One” in the high priest's own question.

Psalm 110:1 · Daniel 7:13

basis: Cambridge cites Daniel 7:13, Psalm 8:4 and Psalm 110:1 at this verse; Gill cites Daniel 7:13. The wording of Mark 14:62 is demonstrably the Psalm's and Daniel's, but the refs pair a New Testament with Old Testament books, so no shared Strong's lexeme can be computed and the cross-Testament rule forbids a verbal tier

False witnesses rise up: the Psalms of the wrongly accused and the law of two witnesses structural / thematic: confirmed

The pattern of v. 55 to v. 59 is written in the Psalter before it is enacted: witnesses who rise up and breathe out violence (Psalm 27:12), unjust witnesses who lay to the charge things the sufferer did not know (Psalm 35:11). JFB quotes the second of these idioms at v. 56 from Psalm 31:11 and adds Psalm 71:11 and Psalm 76:10 to the scene. The requirement the court could not satisfy is Deuteronomy 19:15 and 17:6, cited at this verse by Cambridge and by JFB. ⚙ The link is one of pattern and legal background, not of citation: Mark never says “that it might be fulfilled,” and no shared lexeme can be computed across the Testaments.

Psalm 27:12 · Psalm 35:11 · Deuteronomy 19:15 · Deuteronomy 17:6

basis: Cambridge cites Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 at Mark 14:56; JFB cites Deuteronomy 17:6 and the Psalms of false witness. Cross-Testament refs, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable and no quotation is claimed; the basis is the shared pattern of rising false witnesses and the two-witness statute the court failed to meet

I gave my back to the smiters: the Servant and the struck cheek typological

Gill says of the spitting that it fulfils “the prophecy in Isaiah 50:6,” and JFB quotes the verse at length at this point, calling it “that Messianic prediction which we have often referred to.” Micah 5:1 adds the specific insult of striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod. ⚙ The reading is figural and ancient, not a claim that Mark cites Isaiah: Mark reports the blows without comment. Cambridge, reading the same Isaiah passage, draws a different and more sociological point, that those under the ban were specially liable to spitting, which is a reminder that even a widely-held typology carries competing uses among its own defenders.

Isaiah 50:6 · Micah 5:1

basis: Gill and JFB both read Mark 14:65 as fulfilling Isaiah 50:6, and Cambridge cites the same passage; this is an ancient and widely-held figural reading, not an explicit citation by Mark, and the refs cross the Testaments so no shared lexeme can be computed

The robe he may not tear, and the statute he invokes structural / thematic: confirmed

Leviticus 10:6 and 21:10 forbid the high priest to rend his garments; Leviticus 24:16 makes blasphemy capital. Both the prohibition and the penalty are in play in v. 63 to v. 64, and the sources disagree about the first. Cambridge says the tearing “was not lawful for him to do in cases of mourning (Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10), but was allowable in cases of blasphemy,” citing 2 Kings 18:37. Benson argues the Levitical precepts “relate only to the pontifical garments and to private mourning,” and that the high priest was in ordinary dress here, reasoning from Exodus 29:29-30. JFB simply reads the gesture as horror at blasphemy and cites 2 Kings 18:37; he grounds the sentence in Leviticus 24:16. ⚙ We record the disagreement rather than resolving it, and tier the link structural: the Gospel makes no citation, and the connection is one of law and gesture.

Leviticus 10:6 · Leviticus 21:10 · Leviticus 24:16 · 2 Kings 18:37

basis: Cambridge cites Leviticus 10:6 and 21:10 at v. 63 and JFB cites Leviticus 24:16 at v. 64; Benson disputes the application of the Leviticus prohibitions. Cross-Testament refs, so no shared Strong's lexeme is computable; the recorded basis is the statutory background, not a quotation

The temple charge outlives the trial: Stephen flagged: verify source

Cambridge notes that words tending to bring the Temple into contempt “afterwards formed a capital charge against the first martyr, Stephen (Acts 6:13),” and JFB independently points to the suborned witnesses of Acts 6:11-14 as a scene of the same shape. ⚙ Flagged rather than confirmed: the Verifier returned no shared lexeme basis for this pairing, so the link here rests entirely on the two commentators' observation of a repeated pattern, and a reader should check Acts 6 for himself before leaning on it.

Acts 6:13 · Acts 6:11

basis: No Verifier-computed shared lexeme was supplied for this pair; the basis is Cambridge's note at Mark 14:59 and JFB's at Mark 14:56 that the temple charge and the suborned witnesses recur against Stephen. Recorded as commentator observation, not as a computed verbal link

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The sanctuary not made with hands ancient/widely-held

The single charge the court could formulate was about a ναός, and Ellicott establishes that the word means the shrine itself, not the precinct. Gill states what Jesus actually meant: He “did not point at, or design the temple of Jerusalem, but his own body,” following John 2:19-21. Pulpit says the same and notes that John explains “he spake of the temple of his body,” in which dwelt the fullness of the Godhead. Maclaren draws the consequence furthest: the saying “represented Jesus as the restorer of that which Israel should destroy,” and by His resurrection, His own act, “He would build up again a new polity, which yet was but the old transfigured, even ‘the Church, which is His body.’” ⚙ Add the lexical fact the Verifier supplies: the rare adjective ἀχειροποίητος that the perjurers invented for the charge is the New Testament's own word for the eternal house (2 Corinthians 5:1) and the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11), with Ellicott hearing it again in Hebrews 9:11. The lie names the truth. This is the widely-held apostolic reading, recorded here by Ellicott, Gill, Pulpit, Cambridge and Maclaren alike.

John 2:19 · 2 Corinthians 5:1 · Colossians 2:11 · Hebrews 9:11

The prisoner who names Himself Judge ancient/widely-held

Asked under oath whether He is the Christ, the Son of the Blessed, Jesus answers Ἐγώ εἰμι and then tells His judges what they will see. JFB identifies this, not the exchange with Pilate, as the good confession of 1 Timothy 6:13: “under Pontius Pilate witnessed,” before “the only competent tribunal on such occasions,” that He was the Messiah and the Son of the Blessed One, “in the former word owning His Supreme Official, in the latter His Supreme Personal, Dignity.” Cambridge notes that Peter had confessed it and the crowds had hailed it, but “as yet He had not openly declared Himself,” and that the supreme moment had now arrived. Pulpit, following Chrysostom, says He answered so as to leave without excuse all who heard. ⚙ The grammar carries the reversal: ὄψεσθε is second person plural, and καθήμενον and ἐρχόμενον are present participles, enduring states rather than distant events. The bench that cannot see the evidence in front of it is told it will see the Accused enthroned. Pulpit puts the whole reversal in Christ's mouth: “the day is at hand when I, who am now a prisoner at your judgment seat, shall sit on the throne of glory as the Judge of you and of all mankind.” ⚙ One honest gap: when “you will see” begins is disputed among the very sources that agree on its meaning. Gill offers the destruction of Jerusalem or the last day; JFB, weighing Matthew's “hereafter” and Luke's “from now,” argues the enthronement dates from that night. Both readings honour the confession; neither is established by Mark's wording alone.

Psalm 110:1 · Daniel 7:13 · 1 Timothy 6:13 · Revelation 1:7

Two priests, two garments: the one torn and the one left whole novel

Mark says Caiaphas tore his χιτῶνας (G5509), and Ellicott is precise that this is the word for the inner garment where Matthew uses the outer. The Verifier confirms that the same lexeme, found in ten verses, is the word John uses of the tunic of Jesus that the soldiers would not tear because it was seamless, woven from the top throughout. ⚙ The contrast is ours and is offered to be tested: the priest who holds office tears his tunic to make a verdict; the High Priest on trial keeps His whole to the end, and even the executioners will not divide it. Pulpit records the ancient half of this reading and we do not claim more than he does: “Some of the Fathers think that by this action Caiaphas involuntarily typified the rending of the priesthood from himself and from the Jewish nation.” That the torn robe signified a priesthood ending is patristic; that the untorn tunic of John 19:23 is its deliberate counterpart is our own inference from a shared rare-ish word, and a reader is free to judge it too neat.

John 19:23 · Leviticus 21:10 · Hebrews 9:11

The silent Lamb and the blindfolded Prophet ancient/widely-held

Twice Mark records silence: the imperfect ἐσιώπα under accusation, and no answer at all to the witnesses. Pulpit reads it as deliberate, since any reply would be twisted, and Cambridge calls it an impressive silence that galled the pride of Caiaphas. ⚙ The Servant of Isaiah 53:7 opens not His mouth, and the Servant of Isaiah 50:6 gives His back to the smiters and hides not His face from shame and spitting, a verse JFB quotes here in full and Gill names as fulfilled. The mockery sharpens it: Ellicott observes that they covered the face first so that “Prophesy” would bite, which means the one demand this court ever made of Jesus was that He exercise the office they had just condemned Him for claiming. Cambridge's closing line is the right last word on the unit: “The hands they bound had healed the sick, and raised the dead; the lips they smote had calmed the winds and waves.”

Isaiah 53:7 · Isaiah 50:6

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Text and translation: the base text is BSB with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering. Two translation choices in this unit are interpretive and should be known as such. First, φῶς at v. 54 is rendered “fire” by BSB but means light; Ellicott, Gill and Pulpit all press the literal sense, and the literal column above follows them. Second, ἴσαι / ἴση at vv. 56 and 59 is rendered “inconsistent.” That is one of two live readings. Benson reports the Vulgate's convenientia testimonia non erant and the contrary view of Hammond and Campbell, that the phrase means the evidence was not equal to a capital charge; Gill agrees with them, JFB and Cambridge with BSB. Our notes hold both open because the Greek does.

Sources: the commentary available for this unit is uneven. Barnes gives no exposition at all here, referring the reader wholly to his notes on Matthew 26:57-75, and Poole refers almost everything to his notes on Matthew 26:57-68, so their voices are thin by their own choice rather than by our selection. Henry's Concise treats 14:53-65 as one block, so the same paragraph stands behind several verses. Maclaren's entry is capped in this brief (about 9,000 further characters were not loaded), and only the portion quoted above was consulted. Gill's rabbinic citations (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:1 and 4:3, Sanhedrin 30a, Maimonides on evidence) come from sources later than the trial itself; they show the standard the tradition acknowledged, not a statute provably enforced that night.

Transcription artefacts in the sourced text: the Cambridge entry at v. 64 reads “He had declared Himself to be the ‘Song of Solomon of God,’” which is plainly an automated substitution of a book name for “Son”; we have not quoted that sentence. Gill at v. 58 prints “did not say be would destroy,” retained as transcribed. Gill at v. 65 cites “Luke 22:6” where the context requires Luke 22:63. Pulpit at v. 65 cites Isaiah as “Isaiah 1:61,” evidently for Isaiah 50:6. None of these affect the readings above, but a user tracing a reference should expect them.

What remains uncertain: whether the witnesses contradicted each other or merely failed to reach a capital charge (see above); whether the Sanhedrin's rules as later codified bound this hearing; whether “you will see” in v. 62 points to the fall of Jerusalem, to the session at the right hand beginning that night, or to the Parousia, on which Gill and JFB differ openly; and the exact sequence of Annas and Caiaphas, which Mark does not narrate and which JFB, Cambridge, Benson and Pulpit reconstruct from John 18:13-24. Thread badges: five links inside the Greek New Testament rest on Verifier-computed shared lexemes and are tiered verbal or structural accordingly; every link to an Old Testament passage is tiered structural or typological, because shared Strong's numbers cannot be computed across Hebrew and Greek, and the basis field says so in each case. The Acts 6 pairing is flagged, since no computed basis was supplied for it.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)