The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew27:11–14

Jesus before Pilate

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Matthew 27:11–14 — Jesus before 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.

11

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, who questioned Him: “Are You the King of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ho Iēsous estathē emprosthen tou hēgemonos kai ho hēgemōn epērōtēsen auton legōn ei Sy ho Basileus tōn Ioudaiōn Sy legeis de Ho Iēsous ephē

Word by word25 · parsed
δὲdeMeanwhileG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
The postpositive δέ: but, and simply resumes the narrative from verse 10.
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐστάθηestathēstoodG2476
√ ἵστημι — to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
ἵστημι: to stand, to be set (Aorist Passive) The passive voice is the theological hinge of the verse: Jesus is placed before the judge. Gill presses the reason behind the posture: “he stood in the legal place, and stead of his people,” with their sins on him and none of his own to answer for. The same root will be turned around in Matthew's own Gospel when every man must stand before the Son of Man.
ἔμπροσθενemprosthenbeforeG1715
√ ἔμπροσθεν — in front of (in place (literally or figuratively) or time)Preposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Singular
ἡγεμόνοςhēgemonosgovernorG2232
√ ἡγεμών — a leader, iNounGenitive Masculine Singular
ἡγεμών: leader, governor A rare noun, occurring in only nineteen verses of the New Testament, and Matthew uses it four more times in this one chapter (27:2, 15, 21, 27) as his standing title for Pilate. He also used it in the Micah citation at Matthew 2:6 for the rulers of Judah. Matthew's vocabulary quietly sets one kind of ruler before another.
καὶkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhowhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἡγεμὼνhēgemōnG2232
√ ἡγεμών — a leader, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἐπηρώτησενepērōtēsenquestionedG1905
√ ἐπερωτάω — to ask for, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ἐπερωτάω: to question, to interrogate A compound of ἐπί with ἐρωτάω, the verb of formal interrogation. It is the same verb the high priest used at Mark 14:60 and that Pilate will use again at Mark 15:4: Jesus is questioned twice, by the religious court and by the civil one, and answers each on his own terms.
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
λέγωνlegōnG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
εἶeiAreG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
εἰμί: to be (Present Indicative, 2nd singular) Strong's notes that this verb is written out “only when emphatic,” and here it is written out beside the equally unnecessary pronoun Σύ, which the Greek text places first: “Thou, art thou the King of the Jews?” Nothing in the grammar marks it as a question, so the interrogative force is carried by tone alone, which is why Pulpit can hear “scorn and surprise, mingled with some awe” in it and paraphrase, “Thou, such a one as thou, art the King of the Jews?” The same emphatic pronoun comes straight back in the answer, Σὺ λέγεις, and turns the question on the questioner.
ΣὺSyYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
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
βασιλεύς: a sovereign, king The title Pilate offers as a capital charge is the title that is true. Cambridge notes that Jesus' own defence is “that He is a King, but that His kingdom is not of this world,” a defence Pilate accepted as complete. Matthew has used this noun of the infant sought by magi (2:2) and will let Rome nail it above the cross.
τῶνtōnof theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἸουδαίωνIoudaiōnJewsG2453
√ Ἰουδαῖος — Judæan, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ΣὺSyYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounNominative 2nd Person Singular
λέγειςlegeishave said [so]G3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
λέγω: to say, to lay forth Two words in Greek, Σὺ λέγεις, carry the whole confession. Gill reads it as “all one as if he had said, I am”; Pulpit calls it “a strong affirmation,” and notes Paul's backward glance at this moment in 1 Timothy 6:13. Jesus neither denies the title nor lets Pilate keep his own meaning for it.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦςIēsousJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ἔφηephērepliedG5346
√ φημί — to show or make known one's thoughts, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
φημί: to make known one's thought (Imperfect) The verb of declaring rather than of answering a charge. Matthew's choice matters: what follows in verses 12 and 14 is not a man who cannot speak but a man who has already said the only thing he intends to say.
12

And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai en tō auton katēgoreisthai hypo tōn archiereōn kai presbyterōn apekrinato ouden

Word by word12 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐνenvvvG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
τῷtōvvvG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
αὐτὸνautonvvvG846
√ 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
κατηγορεῖσθαιkatēgoreisthaiwhen He was accusedG2723
√ κατηγορέω — to be a plaintiff, iVerbPresent Infinitive Middle or Passive
κατηγορέω: to be a plaintiff, to bring formal charge The courtroom verb, present infinitive, held under ἐν τῷ so that the whole clause means “all the while he was being prosecuted.” The same root gives the noun for accuser. Gill lists what was in the indictment: perverting the people, forbidding tribute, setting up as king, charges he says the judge “could never receive.”
ὑπὸhypobyG5259
√ ὑπό — under, iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερέωνarchiereōnchief priestsG749
√ ἀρχιερεύς — the high-priest (literally, of the Jews, typically, Christ)NounGenitive Masculine Plural
ἀρχιερεύς: chief priest, high priest The officers whose own court had just condemned him for blasphemy now appear as plaintiffs in a Roman court on a charge of treason. Barnes marks the substitution: they knew Pilate “would altogether disregard” blasphemy, so they changed the indictment. The men appointed to bring sacrifice bring the accusation instead.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
πρεσβυτέρωνpresbyterōneldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
πρεσβύτερος: older, elder The lay heads of the Sanhedrin, paired with the priests as they are again at Acts 24:1, where the same two groups come down to a Roman governor against Paul.
ἀπεκρίνατοapekrinatoHe gave no answerG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
ἀποκρίνομαι: to conclude for oneself, to answer (Aorist Middle) The middle voice carries the weight: this is a chosen silence. Gill names the reason he thinks lies under it: “he had the sins of his people to answer for, and the time of his dying for them was now come,” so he would say nothing that might retard his death. Ellicott sets the calm silence against the clamour and the judge's bewilderment.
οὐδὲνouden. . .G3762
√ οὐδείς — not even one (man, woman or thing), iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
οὐδείς: not even one Placed as the object of the verb, the nothing is emphatic; verse 14 will intensify it again with οὐδὲ πρὸς ἓν ῥῆμα.
13

Then Pilate asked Him, “Do You not hear how many charges they are bringing against You?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tote ho Pilatos legei autō Ouk akoueis posa katamartyrousin sou

Word by word10 · parsed
ΤότεToteThenG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
τότε: then, at that time Matthew's habitual narrative connective; it marks sequence, not a new scene.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠιλᾶτοςPilatosPilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
Πιλᾶτος: Pilate Strong's glosses the name as “close-pressed.” Matthew has named the man only twice before this point and will use his title ἡγεμών far more often: the office, not the man, is what stands opposite the King.
λέγειlegeiaskedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
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
ΟὐκOukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἀκούειςakoueisDo You not hearG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
ἀκούω: to hear, in various senses Present tense, second person, under the absolute negative οὐ. Benson answers the governor's question for him: “Yes, he did hear, and still hears all that is witnessed unjustly against his truth and ways; but he keeps silence because it is the day of his patience.”
πόσαposahow manyG4214
√ πόσος — interrogative pronoun (of amount) how much (large, long or (plural) many)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
πόσος: how much, how many The word measures volume, not substance. Pilate's argument is quantitative, that so many charges must be answered; the silence answers that a pile of false witness is still nothing.
καταμαρτυροῦσινkatamartyrousincharges they are bringing againstG2649
√ καταμαρτυρέω — to testify againstVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καταμαρτυρέω: to testify against A rare compound; Matthew used it once already at 26:62, where the high priest asked almost this same question about what the witnesses were testifying against him. The two interrogations, priestly and Roman, use the same vocabulary and receive the same silence.
σουsouYouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
14

But Jesus gave no answer, not even to a single charge, much to the governor’s amazement.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai ouk apekrithē autō oude pros hen rhēma lian hōste ton hēgemona thaumazein

Word by word13 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiButG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἀπεκρίθηapekrithē[Jesus] gave no answerG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
ἀποκρίνομαι: to answer (Aorist Passive) The second and final silence, and this time the negation οὐκ stands before the verb. Barnes judges that no reply was needed: “He was innocent, and they offered no proof of guilt,” and the charge “had on the face of it the aspect of absurdity.” Poole's parallel observation, that a prisoner before an improper judge answers nothing, holds here too.
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
οὐδὲoudenot evenG3761
√ οὐδέ — not however, iAdverb
οὐδέ: not however, not even The adverb that turns a refusal into a total one; with ἕν it sets the floor at a single syllable and denies even that.
πρὸςprostoG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
ἓνhena singleG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
ῥῆμαrhēmachargeG4487
√ ῥῆμα — an utterance (individually, collectively or specially),NounAccusative Neuter Singular
ῥῆμα: an utterance, a spoken thing Matthew picks the word for a unit of speech rather than for a legal charge. Pulpit reads the silence as chosen rather than helpless: “he was a willing sacrifice,” acting as his prophet had foretold at Isaiah 53:7. The silence is itself a testimony, which is why Paul can call this hour a confession (1 Timothy 6:13).
λίανlianmuchG3029
√ λίαν — much (adverbially)Adverb
ὥστεhōstetoG5620
√ ὥστε — so too, iConjunction
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἡγεμόναhēgemonagovernor’sG2232
√ ἡγεμών — a leader, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἡγεμών: governor Matthew closes the scene with the same rare title he opened it with in verse 11, now in the accusative as the one being acted upon. The man with all the power in the room is reduced to the subject of the verb “marvel.”
θαυμάζεινthaumazeinamazementG2296
√ θαυμάζω — to wonderVerbPresent Infinitive Active
θαυμάζω: to wonder, to marvel Present infinitive under ὥστε, so the wondering continues. Gill says what the governor wondered at: not only the silence of one who had silenced the learned, but “above all, he marvelled at the patience of Jesus.” Barnes adds the sharper point, that Pilate was more amazed that he did not “return railing for railing” than that he offered no defence. Matthew elsewhere uses this verb of crowds amazed at power; here a Roman is amazed at restraint.

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 one who is set before the power — 27:11

Matthew's first verb is passive: ἐστάθη, “he was made to stand.” Gill anchors the posture in the courts of the day, quoting the Jerusalem Talmud that “the judges sit, and they that are judged stand,” and then names the sight for what it is: “the eternal Son of God in human nature, the Lord of life and glory, the Prince of the kings of the earth, standing before an Heathen governor.” Matthew's word for that governor, ἡγεμών, is deliberately vague; Cambridge observes that the Evangelist “uses a general word instead of the more exact term Procurator.” Ellicott and Barnes both note how much Matthew leaves out, sending the reader to John 18 for the conversation that actually persuaded Pilate. What Matthew keeps is the one exchange that matters: a question of title, and two words of answer. Pulpit hears “scorn and surprise, mingled with some awe” in the governor's Σὺ εἶ, and takes the reply as “a strong affirmation,” with Gill agreeing that Σὺ λέγεις is “all one as if he had said, I am.” Cambridge sets the limit of the confession: he is a King, but not of a kind Rome can prosecute, and Pilate knew it, saying “I find no fault in him.”

ii. The silence, and the pressure put on it — 27:12-27:13

Verse 12 is built on an articular infinitive, ἐν τῷ αὐτὸν κατηγορεῖσθαι, “while he was being accused,” a present tense that keeps the accusing going. Pulpit pictures priests and elders who “vied with each other in vociferating charges against the meek Prisoner”; Ellicott sets three things side by side, “the vehement clamour of the accusers, the calm, imperturbable, patient silence of the accused, and the wonder of the judge.” The commentators divide over why the silence. Barnes takes it as sufficiency of innocence: “They offered no testimony to prove them, and, in conscious innocence, he was silent.” Gill takes it as purpose: the charges were refutable, but had he cleared them “they would invent new ones,” and the real reason was that “he had the sins of his people to answer for, and the time of his dying for them was now come.” Benson reads it as prophecy performed, saying that in answering nothing “Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, chap. Isaiah 53:7.” Pilate then applies the only leverage he has, a question of arithmetic: πόσα, how many things do they witness against you. Gill gives it teeth, “art thou deaf? art thou under no concern to make answer to them?” Barnes notes what the Greek verb καταμαρτυροῦσιν implies and the situation denies: they speak as witnesses, but “they were not witnesses, but accusers.”

iii. The last word withheld, and a Roman undone by it — 27:14

Matthew's closing sentence piles up negatives: οὐκ ἀπεκρίθη αὐτῷ οὐδὲ πρὸς ἓν ῥῆμα, not one utterance, and then lets the whole clause fall on a single verb of wonder, θαυμάζειν, intensified by λίαν. Pulpit says the governor “had never beheld such calm resignation” in all his experience, and reads the silence as deliberate: “he was a willing sacrifice; so he acted as his prophet had foretold, He opened not his mouth.” Gill locates the amazement precisely: not just that a man famous for silencing Scribes and Pharisees said nothing, but “above all, he marvelled at the patience of Jesus,” and at his being “so regardless of his life, and fearless of death.” Barnes sharpens it further, judging that Pilate was more surprised “that he bore this so meekly, and did not return railing for railing, than that he did not set up a defense.” Henry, reading the trial whole, states the reason none of the accusers could see: “None could bear the sin of others, except Him that had no sin of his own to answer for.” Geneva puts the same exchange as a transaction: “Christ holds his peace when he is accused in order that we may not be accused.”

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

⚙ Under Scripture alone, read the grammar and the plot together. Two questions are put to Jesus in these four verses, and he treats them as different in kind. To “Art thou the King of the Jews” he gives two words and no more, because the title is true and needs no defence, only acknowledgment: Σὺ λέγεις. To every accusation, he gives nothing at all, twice, and the second time Matthew marks it with the strongest negation he has, οὐδὲ πρὸς ἓν ῥῆμα. That is the shape of this scene: a confession about who he is, and total silence about what he is charged with. The commentators who differ on the reason for the silence are all reaching for the same thing from different sides. Barnes is right that innocence needed no defence; Gill is right that a defence would only have multiplied the charges; Benson and Pulpit are right that a prophet had described exactly this bearing. But Matthew's own grammar adds something none of them presses: the first verb is passive, ἐστάθη. He was set there. A man who is set in a dock and answers nothing looks like a man who has lost control of events. Matthew's last verb says otherwise: the governor is the one left marvelling, and the sentence ends with the judge, not the prisoner, at a loss. Our reading, offered to be tested: the silence is not passivity but the only possible testimony to a charge he intended not to escape. He answers the question about his identity because identity is what he came to reveal, and refuses the question about his guilt because guilt is what he came to receive. If that is right, then Geneva's sentence is not devotional decoration but the logic of the scene, and the amazement of a Roman official is the first recorded reaction of the nations to a King who will not defend himself.

He answered the question about who he was, and refused the question about what he had done, because he had come to receive the second and reveal the first. (This line is our 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.

ἡγεμών: the word Matthew keeps using for the power in the room verbal / quotation: confirmed

⚙ Matthew calls Pilate “the governor” far more readily than he calls him Pilate, and the noun he chooses, ἡγεμών (G2232), is rare: it appears in only nineteen verses in the New Testament, four of them inside this one chapter (27:2, 15, 21, 27) and both ends of this unit (27:11, 27:14). The Verifier confirms the shared lexeme at each of these, alongside G4091 Πιλᾶτος. The same rare noun appears in Matthew 2:6, in the Micah citation about the rulers of Judah, where the child born in Bethlehem is the one who will govern. Cambridge notes that Matthew's word here is looser than the legal title Procurator; that looseness is what lets the word do double duty in this Gospel. This is a verbal link inside one author's own vocabulary, not a quotation.

Matthew 27:2 · Matthew 27:15 · Matthew 27:21 · Matthew 27:27 · Matthew 2:6

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G2232 ἡγεμών (in 19 vv, rare) at Matthew 27:2, 27:15, 27:21, 27:27 and 2:6, plus G4091 Πιλᾶτος (in 53 vv) at 27:2. Greek to Greek, one author, a repeated rare noun; no quotation is claimed.

Silence before the high priest, silence before the governor structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Matthew has already staged this exact scene once. At Matthew 26:62 the high priest stood up and asked what the witnesses were testifying against him (the rare compound καταμαρτυρέω, used again at 27:13), and received no answer; Mark 14:60 records the same interrogation with the same verb ἐπερωτάω that Pilate uses at 27:11, and Mark 15:4 puts Pilate's second question in those same words. The Verifier computes the overlap of ἀποκρίνομαι, οὐδείς, ἐπερωτάω and ἀρχιερεύς across all three. Ellicott points to the earlier scene explicitly, saying that here “as before in Matthew 26:63” the reader must weigh clamour against silence. The lexemes are common ones, so the link is a repeated pattern rather than a citation: the religious court and the civil court ask, in the same Greek, and get the same nothing.

Matthew 26:62 · Mark 14:60 · Mark 15:4

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G611 ἀποκρίνομαι (in 231 vv), G3762 οὐδείς (in 221 vv), G1905 ἐπερωτάω (in 56 vv), G749 ἀρχιερεύς (in 119 vv). All frequent words, so no verbal claim is made; the confirmed link is the repeated interrogation-and-silence pattern.

The one who opened not his mouth typological

⚙ Isaiah's Servant “opened not his mouth” before shearers and slaughter (Isaiah 53:7), and the psalmist becomes “as a man that heareth not,” with no reproofs in his mouth, while his accusers speak against him (Psalm 38:13-14). Both are read here by the commentators: Benson states flatly that in answering nothing “Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, chap. Isaiah 53:7,” and Pulpit says of 27:14 that “he acted as his prophet had foretold, He opened not his mouth.” Matthew himself supplies no citation formula at this point, unlike his practice elsewhere, and a link between a Hebrew text and a Greek one cannot be established from shared Strong's numbers. So the connection is figural, and the tier records that: the pattern of a silent sufferer is read forward into the trial by long tradition, not quoted by the Evangelist.

Isaiah 53:7 · Psalm 38:13-14

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier can apply. Matthew supplies no citation formula here. The figural reading is ancient and widely held: Benson and Pulpit both name Isaiah 53:7 at this exact point.

Before governors and kings: the Master's trial becomes the disciples' brief structural / thematic: confirmed

⚙ Jesus had told the Twelve they would be “brought before governors and kings” for his sake (Matthew 10:18, with the parallels at Mark 13:9 and Luke 21:12), and each of those sayings uses the same rare noun ἡγεμών together with βασιλεύς, the two words that collide in Pilate's question at 27:11. Acts 24 then plays the scene out: the chief priests and elders come down to a Roman governor against Paul (Acts 24:1), and Paul answers before him (Acts 24:10), with the Verifier finding ἡγεμών, ἀρχιερεύς and πρεσβύτερος shared. Poole notices the continuity in the indictment itself, calling sedition “the constant charge” laid on the ministers of the gospel from Christ's time onward, and cites Tertullus against Paul. The difference is instructive and belongs in the thread rather than being smoothed over: where Jesus keeps silence, Paul makes a defence.

Matthew 10:18 · Mark 13:9 · Luke 21:12 · Acts 24:1 · Acts 24:10

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G2232 ἡγεμών (in 19 vv) and G935 βασιλεύς (in 105 vv) at Matthew 10:18, Mark 13:9, Luke 21:12; G2232 with G749 ἀρχιερεύς (in 119 vv) and G4245 πρεσβύτερος (in 66 vv) at Acts 24:1, G2232 with G611 at Acts 24:10. A real verbal overlap inside a shared pattern of trial before Gentile authority; no quotation is claimed, so the tier stays structural.

“Witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate” flagged: verify source

⚙ Pulpit states that “St. Paul alludes to this scene in 1 Timothy 6:13, Christ Jesus, who before Pilate witnessed the good confession.” If that identification holds, the two words Σὺ λέγεις are the confession in question, and the silence of vv. 12-14 is part of it. We flag rather than confirm the link: the Verifier returned no computed basis for it, 1 Timothy 6:13 names Pilate without quoting Matthew, and the referent of Paul's phrase (this exchange, the whole passion, or the confession before the Sanhedrin at 26:64) is disputed among interpreters. The reader should check the sources before leaning on it.

1 Timothy 6:13

basis: Not in the Verifier's computed candidates; no shared lexeme was established. The link rests on Pulpit's assertion that Paul alludes to this scene, and the referent of 1 Timothy 6:13 is contested (this exchange, the trial as a whole, or Matthew 26:64).

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The King who accepts his title from an enemy's mouth ancient/widely-held

⚙ The only charge Jesus answers is the one about his identity, and he answers it in the affirmative. Gill says the reply is “all one as if he had said, I am”; Pulpit calls it “a strong affirmation. Christ accepts in its fullest sense that which the governor puts as a question.” Cambridge fixes the qualification that makes the confession safe from Rome and dangerous to it: he is a King, “but that His kingdom is not of this world,” and therefore, as Cambridge notes, the defence was complete and Pilate said “I find no fault in him.” Barnes reasons the same way from the charge sheet: the Sanhedrin had condemned him for blasphemy, then substituted treason to “excite the jealousy of the Roman governor,” and the substitution failed because the kingship in question was of another order. This is the apostolic reading, recorded here by Gill, Barnes, Cambridge and Pulpit alike: the title nailed over the cross in three languages was the truth, told first to a governor by the accused himself.

John 18:36 · Matthew 27:37 · 1 Timothy 6:13

He was accused, that we might not be ancient/widely-held

⚙ The passive ἐστάθη and the emphatic οὐδέν together describe a substitution, and the older expositors say so directly. Gill: “he stood in the legal place, and stead of his people,” with no crimes of his own to answer for but “the sins of his people on him,” and he stood so “that they might stand before God.” Geneva puts it as an exchange: “Christ holds his peace when he is accused in order that we may not be accused: acknowledging our guiltiness, and at the same time his own innocence.” Benson draws the same line: we “could not have stood before God because of our sins” had Christ not been judged in our place, and “He was arraigned that we might be discharged.” Henry supplies the reason no one else in the room could take the role: “None could bear the sin of others, except Him that had no sin of his own to answer for.” The logic runs straight into Paul's courtroom question, who shall bring a charge against God's elect, and into the sinless one made sin for us.

Romans 8:33-34 · 2 Corinthians 5:21 · Isaiah 53:7

A Gentile ruler reduced to wonder novel

⚙ Matthew ends the scene with a Roman governor's θαυμάζειν, exceedingly. Barnes and Gill both say the amazement was moral rather than legal: Pilate was astonished not at an unanswered indictment but at patience, at a man who would not “return railing for railing,” at one “so regardless of his life, and fearless of death.” ⚙ We add, as our own and more tentative reading, that Isaiah's Servant song moves from the silence of verse 7 back to kings who shut their mouths before him (Isaiah 52:15). If that sequence is in view, then the first Gentile official to meet the silent Servant reacts exactly as Isaiah said the nations would, and Matthew records the reaction without comment. There is also an inversion inside Matthew's own use of the verb: at Matthew 8:10 it is Jesus who marvels, and the object of his wonder is the faith of a Gentile soldier; here the Gentile official does the marvelling, and the object is Jesus. We mark all of this as novel rather than traditional: the commentators in this brief connect the silence to Isaiah 53:7, none of them connects Pilate's astonishment to Isaiah 52:15, and Matthew supplies no citation.

Isaiah 52:15 · Matthew 8:10

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)
  • 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: BSB (CC0) with the Berean interlinear and Strong's numbering; parses and glosses in this unit come from that apparatus and are not our own analysis. Two items of grammar deserve a caution. First, Matthew writes the middle ἀπεκρίνατο at 27:12 and the passive form ἀπεκρίθη at 27:14; Hellenistic Greek often uses the passive form of this verb with active sense, so our comment on the change of voice notes a real difference in form while claiming nothing certain about a difference in meaning. Second, Ἰουδαίων at 27:11 is parsed in this apparatus as an adjective, which is why the literal rendering reads “of the Judean ones.”

Sources: Matthew tells this trial briefly, and Ellicott, Barnes, Poole, Cambridge and Pulpit all send the reader to John 18:28-40 and Luke 23:1-25 for the material Matthew omits. Several statements those commentators make about this scene (Pilate's attempt to hand the case back, the words about a kingdom not of this world, the sending to Herod, Pilate's “I find no fault in him”) are drawn from those other Gospels, not from the four verses in front of us; we have kept the attribution visible wherever that is the case. The JFB entry for the whole block is only a cross-reference to their notes on Luke and John, so no JFB excerpt could be quoted here. The Geneva entries at 27:12, 27:13 and 27:14 reproduce the verse text alone, so Geneva is quoted only at 27:11. Poole's note is placed at 27:12-14 and runs on into Luke's Herod episode; the editorial note on that voice says so. Poole's note at 27:11 is capped in this brief and we did not draw on the omitted portion.

Uncertain or flagged: the Isaiah 53:7 and Psalm 38:13-14 connections are the commentators' readings, not citations made by Matthew, and are tiered typological for that reason. The 1 Timothy 6:13 link is flagged: it rests on Pulpit's assertion and has no computed basis. The Isaiah 52:15 reading in the third Christ entry is our own and marked novel. The digitised Pulpit Commentary text used here carries typographical damage in two places in this unit (“resigntion” for resignation at verse 14, and a garbled clause “a single one of the accusations die”); quotations reproduce the source exactly rather than silently repairing 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)