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Mark15:1–5

Jesus Delivered to Pilate

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Mark 15:1–5 — Jesus Delivered to Pilate. 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.

1

Early in the morning, the chief priests, elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin devised a plan. They bound Jesus, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai euthys prōi hoi archiereis meta tōn presbyterōn kai grammateōn kai to holon synedrion poiēsantes symboulion dēsantes ton Iēsoun apēnenkan kai paredōkan Pilatō

Word by word23 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εὐθὺςeuthysEarlyG2112
√ εὐθέως — directly, iAdverb
euthys: directly, at once Mark's hallmark adverb, used here for the last time in the trial narrative. Its force is not merely “early” but “without an interval”: the Sanhedrin does not deliberate overnight and reconvene, it moves straight from verdict to extradition.
πρωῒprōiin the morningG4404
√ πρωΐ — at dawnAdverb
prōi: at dawn The legal point hidden in a time-word. Cambridge records the Sanhedrin's own rules that no capital trial could be carried through at night and that a guilty verdict had to be reserved to the following day; Pulpit says plainly that all the proceedings hitherto had been irregular and illegal and that the dawn session was held “for form's sake.” The hour is therefore evidence, not scene-setting.
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
archiereus: chief priest Strong's notes that the word for Israel's high priest is the same word the New Testament applies to Christ. The irony of the unit is grammatical: the plural archiereis bind and hand over the One whom Hebrews will name the single true archiereus. Mark names them first here and again first in v. 3, so the accusers of v. 3 are the plotters of v. 1.
μετὰmetaG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
τῶνtōnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
πρεσβυτέρωνpresbyterōneldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
γραμματέωνgrammateōnscribesG1122
√ γραμματεύς — scribe, town-clerkNounGenitive 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
holos: whole, all Ellicott notices that the Greek phrase stands in apposition with “the chief priests” and suggests the sense “even the whole Council,” a collective name gathering the three parts already listed rather than a fourth party. The effect either way is that no faction of Israel's court is left outside the verdict.
συνέδριονsynedrionSanhedrinG4892
√ συνέδριον — a joint session, iNounNominative Neuter Singular
synedrion: a joint session, council The Sanhedrin, Israel's supreme court, here sitting as a body (G4892, in 22 verses). Cambridge doubts whether it could be called a legal Sanhedrin at all under Roman conditions. The same noun will later seat Paul (Acts 22:30) and, in Acts 5, the apostles: the institution that condemns the Lord goes on trying His witnesses.
ποιήσαντεςpoiēsantesdevisedG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
συμβούλιονsymbouliona planG4824
√ συμβούλιον — advisementNounAccusative Neuter Singular
symboulion: advisement, counsel A rare noun (G4824, in only 8 verses) and the thread of Mark's whole plot: at Mark 3:6 the Pharisees and Herodians “took counsel” to destroy Him, here the Sanhedrin takes counsel to deliver Him, and at Matthew 28:12 the same body takes counsel to deny the resurrection. Three councils, one verb, one object.
δήσαντεςdēsantesThey boundG1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
deō: to bind, literally or figuratively Aorist participle. Mark records no resistance; the binding is simply the posture in which the prisoner travels. The word is the deliberate counterpart to Mark's account of the Gerasene demoniac whom no chain could bind: the One who loosed him is now bound, and voluntarily.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀπήνεγκανapēnenkanled [Him] awayG667
√ ἀποφέρω — to bear off (literally or relatively)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
apopherō: to bear off A rare verb (G667, in only 6 verses). It is used elsewhere of angels carrying Lazarus to Abraham's side (Luke 16:22) and of the Spirit carrying John away to see the city (Revelation 21:10). Pulpit hears “the semblance of force” in it while insisting the Prisoner went as a lamb to the slaughter.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
παρέδωκανparedōkanhanded [Him] overG3860
√ παραδίδωμι — to surrender, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
paradidōmi: to surrender, deliver up The pivot of the passion. Israel's court performs the act, but the same verb carries the Father's act in Romans 8:32 and the Son's own prediction quoted by Pulpit, “They shall deliver him to the Gentiles.” Geneva reads the whole verse as substitution: He is condemned in open assembly “not for his own sins ... but for all of ours.”
ΠιλάτῳPilatōto PilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounDative Masculine Singular
Pilatos: close-pressed Pontius Pilate, fifth procurator of Judaea. Cambridge notes his headquarters were at Caesarea and that he came up to Jerusalem only to keep order at the great feasts, which is why the rulers could reach him at dawn. Poole draws the legal reason for the transfer: the power of capital punishment had been taken from the Sanhedrin.
2

So Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ho Pilatos epērōtēsen auton ei Sy ho Basileus tōn Ioudaiōn Sy legeis de Ho apokritheis autō legei

Word by word18 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiSoG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠιλᾶτοςPilatosPilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπηρώτησενepērōtēsenquestionedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eperōtaō: to ask, interrogate Aorist: a single formal question. Cambridge holds this was a private examination inside the praetorium, after the Jews had reduced their religious charge to a political one, and that with no quaestor available Pilate had to hear the case himself. Contrast the imperfect epērōta of v. 4, where he keeps at it.
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
εἶeiAreG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ΣὺSyYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
sy: thou Expressed, therefore emphatic. The pronoun carries the incredulity of the question and is then picked up as the first word of the reply.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΒασιλεὺςBasileusKingG935
√ βασιλεύς — a sovereign (abstractly, relatively, or figuratively)NounNominative Masculine Singular
basileus: a sovereign The only charge Rome could act on. Maclaren observes that the rulers' trial turned on the claim to be Messiah while Pilate's turns on the claim to be king, and that it was the rulers' trick to push the political aspect exclusively before the governor. The word becomes the title on the placard at v. 26 and the taunt of the soldiers at v. 18.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἸουδαίωνIoudaiōnJewsG2453
√ Ἰουδαῖος — Judæan, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
Ioudaios: Judaean, Jew Pilate's framing, not Israel's. In a Jewish mouth the title would be “King of Israel” (as at v. 32); “King of the Jews” is how an outsider names it, which is why it stands in the Roman question and on the Roman inscription.
ΣὺSyYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
λέγειςlegeishave said soG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
legō: to lay forth, to say Present indicative. The answer is two words and it concedes the title without accepting Pilate's construction of it. Poole notes that at this very point Christ expressly disclaimed any earthly kingdom, as the other evangelists tell us, so the brevity here is not evasion but precision.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀποκριθεὶςapokritheis[Jesus] repliedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
apokrinomai: to answer Aorist passive participle in form, active in sense. Its three occurrences across this unit (v. 2 answering, v. 4 “do you not answer,” v. 5 “He answered no longer anything”) are the skeleton of the scene.
αὐτῷautō. . .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 PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
λέγειlegei. . .G3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
legō: says Historic present, Mark's habitual way of freezing a moment. The switch from aorist participle to present indicative inside one clause is not clumsiness but emphasis.
3

And the chief priests began to accuse Him of many things.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai hoi archiereis katēgoroun autou polla

Word by word6 · parsed
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
ἀρχιερεῖςarchiereischief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounNominative Masculine Plural
archiereus: chief priest The same subject as in v. 1, and Mark repeats it rather than writing “they”: the men who made the counsel are the men who now supply the volume. Cambridge places this outburst after Pilate had already come out and declared the Accused innocent (John 18:38; Luke 23:4), which makes the clamour an attempt to overturn a judicial finding, not to obtain one. The office that existed to bring Israel's sacrifice is here the plaintiff at a Gentile bar.
κατηγόρουνkatēgorounbegan to accuseG2723
√ κατηγορέω — to be a plaintiff, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
katēgoreō: to be a plaintiff, to accuse Imperfect, therefore repeated or prolonged. The verb recurs in the present tense in Pilate's mouth at v. 4 (katēgorousin), so Mark uses the same root to describe the noise and then to let Pilate quote it back. It is the word behind the title “accuser of the brethren” in Revelation 12:10.
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
πολλάpollaof many thingsG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
polys: much, many Mark's only quantifier here, and it is deliberately empty of content. The contrast the unit is building is arithmetical: many things from the priests against nothing at all from the accused.
4

Then Pilate questioned Him again, “Have You no answer? Look how many charges they are bringing against You!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho Pilatos epērōta auton palin legōn Ouk apokrinē ouden ide posa katēgorousin sou

Word by word14 · parsed
δὲdeThenG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠιλᾶτοςPilatosPilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπηρώταepērōtaquestionedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eperōtaō: to ask, interrogate Imperfect over against the aorist of v. 2. Cambridge notes that the renewed accusations produced further questions from Pilate while the Lord preserved a complete silence, and that the governor's astonishment grew accordingly, which is exactly what v. 5 then reports.
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
πάλινpalinagainG3825
√ πάλιν — (adverbially) anew, iAdverb
palin: anew, again The adverb ties this question to v. 2 and marks the change of setting: Gill observes that the first question was put when Pilate and Jesus were alone in the judgment hall, while this one is asked in the presence of the accusers, who would not enter for fear of defilement.
λέγωνlegōn. . .G3004
√ 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 answer Present middle or passive, second person singular: the only time in this unit the verb is addressed directly to Jesus. Pilate is inviting a defence, and Gill reads his motive kindly, as a judge pressing self-defence on a man he thinks innocent.
οὐδένouden. . .G3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
oudeis: not even one thing Reinforcing negative after οὐκ. Greek stacks negatives to strengthen, not to cancel; this is the strongest form of “nothing whatever.”
ἴδεideLookG2400
√ ἰδού — used as imperative lo!VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
idou / ide: behold! An imperative frozen into an interjection. It sharpens the irony: Pilate commands the silent One to look at the charges, when Mark's reader knows the Judge of all is the one being looked at.
πόσαposahow many chargesG4214
√ πόσος — interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
posos: how much, how many An interrogative of quantity used as an exclamation. It measures the accusation by volume rather than by substance, which is precisely Henry's point that the things alleged were known to be false even to Pilate.
κατηγοροῦσινkatēgorousinthey are bringing againstG2723
√ κατηγορέω — to be a plaintiff, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
katēgoreō: to accuse Present tense in Pilate's mouth, picking up the imperfect of v. 3: the accusing is still going on as he speaks.
σουsouYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
5

But to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further reply.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de hōste ton Pilaton thaumazein Ho Iēsous apekrithē ouketi ouden

Word by word10 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὥστεhōstetoG5620
√ ὥστε — so too, iConjunction
hōste: so that, with the result that Result construction with accusative and infinitive. Mark is not describing Pilate's mood in passing; he is recording an inference drawn by the only man in the room with legal power, and Pulpit reads Pilate's marvelling as the ground of his repeated attempts to release Him.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΠιλᾶτονPilatonPilate’sG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
θαυμάζεινthaumazeinamazementG2296
√ θαυμάζω — to wonderVerbPresent Infinitive Active
thaumazō: to wonder, marvel The governor's astonishment functions in Mark as testimony. Gill spells out why: a man so capable of defending himself, so plainly innocent, charged so gravely by the chief men of the nation, and still saying nothing. Roman jurisprudence had no category for a defendant who would not plead.
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἀπεκρίθηapekrithēmade no further replyG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
apokrinomai: to answer Aorist passive, the third and final occurrence of the root in this unit. Mark's arithmetic is complete: two words spoken to Pilate in v. 2, many things alleged in v. 3, and here nothing at all.
οὐκέτιouketi. . .G3765
√ οὐκέτι — not yet, no longerAdverb
ouketi: no longer, not any more The precise word on which Benson, following Campbell, corrects the older English versions. It requires that something was said before, and so it binds v. 5 to v. 2: the silence is chosen after the confession, not instead of it.
οὐδὲνouden. . .G3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
oudeis: nothing Reinforcing the negative, as in v. 4. The pairing οὐκέτι οὐδὲν is the strongest possible statement of a closed mouth.

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. The dawn council and the hands that pass Him on — Mark 15:1

Mark opens with his own adverb, εὐθὺς, and a time-word that is really a legal exhibit. Cambridge sets out the Sanhedrin's own published safeguards, that a capital verdict must be reserved to a second day and that no criminal trial could be carried through in the night, and then records that Sadducean severity had swept all this aside. Pulpit puts it flatly: all the proceedings hitherto had been irregular and illegal, and the dawn session was held for form's sake. Ellicott adds a grammatical caution against reading “the whole council” as a fourth body, since the phrase stands in apposition with “the chief priests” and may simply gather the three parts already named. What follows is one Greek sentence held together by two aorist indicatives, ἀπήνεγκαν and παρέδωκαν, with the counsel-making and the binding hanging on them as participles. ⚙ The syntax is a conveyor belt: counsel, bonds, transfer, all in one breath. Benson supplies the machinery, that the Sanhedrin could condemn but not execute without the governor, and Poole the same point from the Roman side. Benson also preserves Theophylact's grim symmetry, that the Jews delivered up our Lord to the Romans and were themselves given up into Roman hands. Geneva reads the verse as substitution outright: Christ bound before an earthly judge is condemned in open assembly, not for his own sins but for all of ours.

ii. Two words to the governor — Mark 15:2

Cambridge holds that this exchange happened inside the praetorium as a private hearing, after the rulers had suppressed the religious ground of their verdict and advanced a triple political charge, and that with no quaestor available Pilate had to hear the case himself. Pulpit supplies from Luke the three alleged counts. Maclaren draws the difference between the two trials: the rulers' turned on the claim to be Messiah, Pilate's turns on the claim to be king, and it was the rulers' trick to push the political aspect exclusively into prominence before a governor who might see an incipient insurrection in it. ⚙ Everything in the Greek is emphasis and brevity. Σὺ is expressed where Greek needs no pronoun, so the question carries incredulity: You? And the reply takes the same pronoun back: Σὺ λέγεις, two words, present tense. Gill calls it all one as if He had said, I am. Pulpit renders it “Thou sayest that which is true.” Cambridge, more carefully, says Mark brings out the acknowledgment of regal dignity though Pilate could not understand His meaning, and Poole notes that the kingdom Christ was condemned for was the spiritual one, since He expressly disclaimed an earthly kingdom before this same judge. The historic present λέγει in the next clause is Mark holding the moment open.

iii. Many things against nothing at all — Mark 15:3-5

The unit's last movement is built entirely out of tense and negation. κατηγόρουν is imperfect, a sustained barrage; ἐπηρώτα in v. 4 is imperfect too, Pilate prodding repeatedly where v. 2 had one aorist question; and ἀπεκρίθη in v. 5 is a single aorist with two negatives stacked in front of it. Gill, reading with the parallels, lists what the “many things” were, magician, blasphemer, claimant of divine sonship and of kingship, forbidder of tribute, stirrer of sedition, while Mark himself names none of them. Henry explains the asymmetry: Christ gave Pilate a direct answer but would not answer the witnesses, because the things alleged were known to be false and even Pilate was convinced they were so. Pulpit passes on Augustine's line that the Savior, who is the Wisdom of God, knew how to overcome by keeping silence. ⚙ Note what Mark makes of the result clause in v. 5: ὥστε plus infinitive turns the governor's amazement into a stated consequence, which is to say into testimony. Benson, citing Campbell, rescues the force of οὐκέτι: not “still answered nothing,” which would contradict v. 2, but answered nothing more. The silence is therefore chosen, and chosen after the confession, not in place of it.

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

⚙ Read only from what Mark has written, this scene is a courtroom with the wrong people in the dock. Mark gives the accusers a quantity word and no content: πολλά, many things, never itemised. He gives the accused two words and then nothing. And he gives the judge a result clause, so that the only verdict actually recorded in the unit is Pilate's astonishment. The Sanhedrin's dawn haste, which Cambridge and Pulpit both show was a breach of Israel's own procedure, means the counsel of v. 1 is not deliberation but paperwork for a decision already taken; the trial is a formality wrapped around a verdict. Against that, the two words of v. 2 are the only sworn claim anybody makes, and they are made by the prisoner. ⚙ This tool's fallible reading is that Mark has deliberately inverted the roles, and that the inversion is the point Maclaren names when he calls Pilate holding Christ's life in his hand the crowning paradox of history. The binding is the clearest sign of it: δήσαντες, from the same verb Mark used of the chains that could not hold the Gerasene. Nothing in the text says the bonds held Him. Everything in the text says He let them. Geneva takes the further step, that the condemnation is borne for ours, and Romans 4:25 uses the same verb paradidōmi of the Father's act that the priests here perform; but Mark himself does not say that here, and honesty requires marking where Mark stops and where the wider canon speaks. What Mark does say, and says twice, is that the accused would not defend Himself and that the Roman could not understand why.

The only verdict Mark actually records in this scene is the astonishment of the judge. (⚙ 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 taking of counsel: a rare noun that tracks one decision from Galilee to the empty tomb verbal / quotation: confirmed

The noun συμβούλιον (symboulion, G4824, “advisement”) occurs in only 8 verses in the whole New Testament, and the Verifier finds it shared between Mark 15:1 and every one of the others listed here. Its first appearance in Mark is at 3:6, where the Pharisees take counsel with the Herodians how to destroy Him, immediately after a healing; its last relatives are the plot to entangle Him in His talk (Matthew 22:15), the council of Matthew 27:1 which is this same dawn session, the purchase of the potter's field (Matthew 27:7), and the payment of the guards to deny the resurrection (Matthew 28:12). ⚙ The rarity is what makes this a real verbal chain rather than a theme: the same technical word for a formal deliberation is used for the decision to kill Him, the decision to hand Him over, the disposal of the blood money, and the cover-up.

Mark 3:6 · Matthew 12:14 · Matthew 22:15 · Matthew 27:1 · Matthew 27:7 · Matthew 28:12

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4824 συμβούλιον, a rare word occurring in only 8 verses; Greek to Greek within the New Testament. Matthew 27:1 additionally shares G749 ἀρχιερεύς (in 119 vv) and G4245 πρεσβύτερος (in 66 vv) as the direct synoptic parallel. No quotation is claimed, only a rare shared lexeme.

Carried off: the rare verb of being borne away verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἀπήνεγκαν (apopherō, G667, “to bear off”) is rare, standing in only 6 verses. Luke uses it of the beggar carried away by angels to Abraham's side; Revelation uses it twice of John himself carried away in the Spirit, once into a wilderness to see the harlot and once to a great high mountain to see the bride city; Acts uses it of cloths carried from Paul's body to the sick; Paul uses it of the collection carried to Jerusalem. ⚙ The verb is not a passion word by nature: it describes a person or thing conveyed somewhere by an agency other than its own will. Pulpit hears in it “the semblance of force,” while insisting that the Prisoner in fact went as a lamb to the slaughter. The lexical link is real; the theological weight is our inference, not Mark's statement.

Luke 16:22 · Acts 19:12 · 1 Corinthians 16:3 · Revelation 17:3 · Revelation 21:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G667 ἀποφέρω, rare, in only 6 verses; Greek to Greek within the New Testament. No quotation is claimed, only a rare shared lexeme; the interpretive weight placed on it is ⚙ synthesis.

The same council, the same governor's hall, the next generation structural / thematic: confirmed

Luke's Acts brings Paul before the very institutions named in Mark 15:1. At Acts 22:30 the tribune brings Paul down and sets him before the chief priests and all the συνέδριον; at Acts 25:12 Festus, having conferred with his συμβούλιον, sends him to Caesar. ⚙ The second occurrence is a caution as much as a link: the noun there means a Roman governor's advisory board, not the Jewish court, so the shared word does not carry the same referent. What is confirmed is the shape: Sanhedrin, then Roman magistrate, then transfer, in the same order, for the Master and then for the servant.

Acts 22:30 · Acts 25:12

basis: Verifier: Acts 22:30 shares G4892 συνέδριον (in 22 vv), G749 ἀρχιερεύς (in 119 vv), G2453 Ἰουδαῖος (in 185 vv); Acts 25:12 shares G4824 συμβούλιον (in 8 vv) and G611 ἀποκρίνομαι (in 231 vv). Downgraded from verbal because συμβούλιον at Acts 25:12 denotes a Roman assessor council, a different referent, and the remaining lexemes are common.

He did not open His mouth typological

Isaiah's fourth Servant song says of the Servant that He was oppressed and afflicted yet did not open His mouth, and that by oppression and judgment He was taken away. Mark 15:3-5 reports exactly that behaviour in a Roman hearing and adds the detail Isaiah could not: that the judge marvelled. ⚙ Mark does not quote Isaiah here, and does not name him. The link is figural and must be tiered accordingly. It is nonetheless among the oldest readings in the church, and the New Testament itself applies Isaiah 53:7 to Jesus explicitly at Acts 8:32-35, where Philip begins from that very scripture and preaches Jesus. Pulpit's citation of Augustine, that the Wisdom of God knew how to overcome by keeping silence, is the same reading in patristic form.

Isaiah 53:7 · Isaiah 53:8 · Acts 8:32-35

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, therefore no shared Strong's number is possible and no verbal tier is available. Mark contains no citation formula and no quotation of Isaiah in this unit; the correspondence is a figural reading of silence under judgment. Ancient and widely-held, and supported from within the New Testament by the explicit application of Isaiah 53:7-8 to Jesus in Acts 8:32-35.

The rulers take counsel together against His Anointed structural / thematic: confirmed

Psalm 2 asks why the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain, and answers that the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed. Mark 15:1 supplies both halves in one verse: Israel's rulers make their counsel, and a Roman governor receives the prisoner. ⚙ The apostolic church read the scene exactly this way, naming Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel as those gathered together against God's holy servant (Acts 4:25-27). Maclaren's framing, the true King at the bar of the apparent ruler, is the same reading in expository form.

Psalm 2:1-2 · Acts 4:25-27

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's number can be computed and a verbal tier is unavailable. The basis is a shared pattern (rulers of Israel plus a Gentile magistrate deliberating against the LORD's Anointed) plus the recorded apostolic application of Psalm 2:1-2 to Pilate and Herod at Acts 4:25-27, which is a quotation in Acts, not in Mark.

Like a mute man in whose mouth are no rebukes typological

The psalmist of Psalm 38 describes himself as one who does not hear and in whose mouth are no arguments, while those who seek his life lay snares and speak of ruin all day long. Mark's v. 3 to v. 5 puts the same two elements side by side: accusation without limit, answer without a word. ⚙ We tier this typological rather than thematic-confirmed because the resemblance is to a first-person lament, not to a prophecy of a coming figure, and because Mark gives no signal that he has this psalm in view.

Psalm 38:13-14

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's basis exists and no verbal tier is available. Figural reading of the silent sufferer of the lament psalms applied to the silent prisoner of Mark 15; Mark makes no citation and gives no verbal marker. Offered as a widely-held passional reading, not as a demonstrated allusion.

Devising iniquity on their beds, and at morning light they do it structural / thematic: confirmed

Micah pronounces woe on those who devise wickedness on their beds and carry it out when the morning is light, because it is in the power of their hand. Zephaniah calls Jerusalem's judges evening wolves that leave nothing until morning. ⚙ Mark's εὐθὺς πρωῒ lands precisely on that indictment: a night of devising followed by execution at first light, by men who had the power of their hand. The correspondence gains force from Cambridge's and Pulpit's demonstration that the dawn session broke the court's own rules, so the haste Micah condemns is documented here as procedure.

Micah 2:1 · Zephaniah 3:3

basis: Cross-Testament, Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's number is computable and a verbal tier is unavailable. Basis is a shared pattern of night deliberation followed by dawn execution by men holding judicial power, with no quotation claimed in either direction.

The clause that may not belong to Mark flagged: verify source

The Authorized Version's Mark 15:3 ends “but he answered nothing.” Ellicott records that many manuscripts omit the words; Pulpit says they are not found here in any of the best manuscripts or versions; Gill says the clause is wanting in the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic and Persic but present in the Complutensian Greek and the Ethiopic, and agrees with Matthew 27:12. ⚙ The fact itself is not in doubt, since Pilate's question in v. 4 presupposes the silence; what is in doubt is whether Mark wrote the sentence or a copyist supplied it from Matthew. We therefore flag the Matthew 27:12 pairing rather than presenting it as a clean verbal parallel at this point.

Matthew 27:12

basis: Verifier: shared lexemes G749 ἀρχιερεύς (in 119 vv), G4245 πρεσβύτερος (in 66 vv), G611 ἀποκρίνομαι (in 231 vv), all common, so no verbal tier is warranted on frequency alone. Flagged because the Markan clause that would make the parallel exact (“but he answered nothing”) is text-critically disputed: omitted by the best manuscripts per Pulpit and Ellicott, absent from the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic and Persic per Gill.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Bound, that the bound might go free ancient/widely-held

δήσαντες (deō, G1210) is the same verb Mark used of the chains and fetters that could not hold the man among the tombs. Here the One who loosed him is bound and does not break the cords. ⚙ Mark states the binding and states no resistance; the reading that the bonds held only because He permitted them is inference, but it is inference the whole Gospel has been preparing, since Mark has repeatedly shown that nothing physical constrains Him. Geneva makes the substitution explicit: Christ bound before an earthly judge is condemned in the open assembly not for his own sins, as the judge's own words show, but for all of ours, so that guilty creatures might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God. Henry turns it to devotion, that it is good for us often to remember the bonds of the Lord Jesus, as bound with Him who was bound for us. Isaiah had said the Servant would be taken away by oppression and judgment; Peter says He committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.

Isaiah 53:8 · 1 Peter 2:23 · Mark 5:3-4

The true King at the bar of the apparent ruler ancient/widely-held

Maclaren states it without hedging: the contrast between appearance and reality was never more strongly drawn, one helpless, bound, alone, the other invested with all the externals of power, and the phantom ruler sits in judgment on the true King. ⚙ The Greek carries it. Pilate's Σὺ is a sneer of a pronoun; the answer takes the same pronoun and hands it back, Σὺ λέγεις. Cambridge notes that Mark brings out the acknowledgment of regal dignity even though Pilate could not understand His meaning, and Poole observes that the precise ground of the condemnation was the spiritual kingdom, since Christ expressly disclaimed an earthly one before this same judge. Psalm 2 had already set the kings of the earth against the LORD's Anointed and answered them with the decree that the Son is installed on Zion; Revelation ends with the title Pilate could only frame as an accusation written where no one can take it down.

Psalm 2:2 · Psalm 2:6 · John 18:36-37 · Revelation 19:16

Handed over: the verb the Father also uses ancient/widely-held

παρέδωκαν (paradidōmi, G3860, “to surrender, deliver up”) is the hinge of Mark 15:1 and the hinge of apostolic preaching about the cross. Mark records it as a human act: the Sanhedrin hands Him to Pilate, and Pilate will hand Him to be crucified at v. 15. ⚙ Paul uses the same verb for what God does, that He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification, and that God did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us all. The identical word describes the crime and the gift. Poole sees the providence in it, how punctually the words of Christ are fulfilled, that He would be delivered to the Gentiles. Benson preserves Theophylact's grimmer symmetry, that the nation which delivered Him to the Romans was itself delivered into Roman hands. ⚙ We do not claim Mark intends the Pauline sense; we claim the canon uses one verb for both acts, and that the coincidence is the substance of the doctrine of the cross rather than a play on words.

Romans 4:25 · Romans 8:32 · Mark 9:31 · Mark 10:33

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:

  • 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)
  • 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. The Greek behind this unit is the Berean interlinear with Strong's numbering; the English quoted is the BSB. One real textual question falls inside these five verses: the clause “but he answered nothing” at the end of Mark 15:3 in the Authorized Version. Ellicott reports that many manuscripts omit it; Pulpit says it is in none of the best manuscripts or versions; Gill records that it is wanting in the Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic and Persic but present in the Complutensian Greek text and the Ethiopic, and notes it agrees with Matthew 27:12. Our interlinear for v. 3 has no such clause, which is why no word index for it appears in the notes. The fact of the silence is not in question either way, since Pilate's question in v. 4 presupposes it.

Sources. Barnes and JFB contribute nothing verse-specific here: Barnes refers the reader wholesale to his notes on Matthew 27, and the JFB entry carried in our source is a chapter heading and a cross-reference to John 18:28 onward, so neither is quoted. Poole's Mark 15:2 entry covers verses 2 to 20 as one block, and Henry's note is written across Mark 15:1-14, so their remarks are not verse-specific even where we have attached them to a verse. Benson's entry filed under Mark 15:2 in fact argues about Mark 15:5, correcting the older English renderings of οὐκέτι οὐδὲν ἀπεκρίθη; we have quoted it at v. 2 because that is the entry it lives in, and said so in the editorial note. The Maclaren and Cambridge entries for Mark 15:1 are truncated in our source (roughly 10,000 further characters of Maclaren), so our quotations come from the portion available to us and should not be taken as representing the whole of their argument.

Second-hand material. Pulpit's Augustine line and Benson's citations of Theophylact and of George Campbell reach us through those commentators without references; we have marked them rather than treating them as primary. The Pulpit text for Mark 15:1 contains an evident typographical corruption, reading “hound him” where the sense and the Greek δήσαντες require “bound him”; we have not quoted that sentence.

What is uncertain in our own work. The Isaiah 53, Psalm 2, Psalm 38, Micah 2 and Zephaniah 3 links are all cross-Testament and therefore cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers; they are tiered structural or typological and none is claimed as a quotation by Mark. Mark himself quotes no Old Testament text in these five verses. The reading that the bonds of v. 1 held only by consent, and the identification of Mark's παραδίδωμι with the Pauline “delivered up for our trespasses,” are ⚙ synthesis built on canonical usage, not statements Mark makes here.

✦ = 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)