The Fallible Study Bible

The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible

Matthew27:15–23

The Crowd Chooses Barabbas

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 27:15–23 — The Crowd Chooses Barabbas. 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.

15

Now it was the governor’s custom at the feast to release to the crowd a prisoner of their choosing.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ho hēgemōn eiōthei Kata heortēn apolyein tō ochlō hena desmion hon ēthelon

Word by word13 · parsed
δὲdeNowG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
de: now, and, but A mild connective resuming the narrative after Pilate's silence before his accusers.
ὁho[it was] theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἡγεμὼνhēgemōngovernor’sG2232
√ ἡγεμών — a leader, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἰώθειeiōtheicustomG1486
√ ἔθω — to be used (by habit or conventionality)VerbPluperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ethō: to be used by habit or conventionality (pluperfect) A rare verb: only four verses in the New Testament carry it. A pluperfect of habit, "he had grown accustomed," which is why the sources divide over its origin. Gill and Cambridge find no trace of such a release in the Talmud and judge it Roman; Pulpit, following John 18:39, thinks it "most probably an institution established of old time in memory of the Exodus." The text itself grounds it in nothing but a governor's practice, and no Mosaic command anywhere authorises it.
ΚατὰKataatG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ἑορτὴνheortēn[the] feastG1859
√ ἑορτή — a festivalNounAccusative Feminine Singular
heortē: a festival Anarthrous in the Greek (Κατὰ ἑορτὴν, "at feast"), which is why Gill must argue from John 18:39 that the Passover, not any feast, is meant.
ἀπολύεινapolyeinto releaseG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbPresent Infinitive Active
apolyō: to free fully, to loose off The word of amnesty. Its object here is whoever the crowd names, so the governor has voluntarily surrendered his own verdict to a vote. That is the mechanism by which, three verses later, a judge who knows the accused is innocent will still not be the one who frees him.
τῷtōto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
ὄχλῳochlōcrowdG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounDative Masculine Singular
ochlos: a throng, as borne along Strong's root sense is a mass carried along, and Matthew will pluralise it in v. 20 (ὄχλους). The crowd is granted a judicial power here that in v. 20 the chief priests will simply capture.
ἕναhenaaG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
δέσμιονdesmionprisonerG1198
√ δέσμιος — a captive (as bound)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
desmios: a captive, as bound The term is neutral as to guilt; it says only that the man is in chains. Matthew repeats it in v. 16 of Barabbas, and by the end of the unit the bound man goes free while the unbound one is handed over.
ὃνhonofG3739
√ ὅς — the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun, who, which, what, thatPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἤθελονēthelontheir choosingG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
thelō: to determine, as an active option from subjective impulse Strong's gloss names exactly what is at issue: an active option, chosen from impulse. The imperfect makes it habitual ("whomever they kept wanting"), and the same root reappears as a direct question to the crowd twice more. The unit is a study in what a will presented with two names actually does.
16

At that time they were holding a notorious prisoner named Barabbas.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de tote eichon episēmon desmion legomenon Barabban

Word by word7 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
τότεtoteAt that timeG5119
√ τότε — the when, iAdverb
tote: the when, at that time Matthew's habitual narrative marker, here fixing the coincidence: the man was already in custody when the offer was made.
εἶχονeichonthey were holdingG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ἐπίσημονepisēmona notoriousG1978
√ ἐπίσημος — remarkable, iAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
episēmos: remarkable, bearing a mark A doubly rare word, found in only two verses of the New Testament. Strong's gives "remarkable" without moral colour, and the sole parallel applies it to believers held in honour. So the Greek says Barabbas was a marked man, a celebrity, and the reader supplies the rest from Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:19: insurrection and murder. Pulpit is careful that "we have no account elsewhere of this particular rising."
δέσμιονdesmionprisonerG1198
√ δέσμιος — a captive (as bound)NounAccusative Masculine Singular
λεγόμενονlegomenonnamedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
legō: properly, to lay forth, to say The participle of naming, used of Barabbas here and of Christ in vv. 17 and 22. Matthew tells us what each man was called and lets the crowd decide which name it wants.
ΒαραββᾶνBarabbanBarabbasG912
√ Βαραββᾶς — son of AbbaNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Barabbas: son of Abba, son of a father A patronymic, not a given name, which is why Ellicott and Cambridge both weigh a variant reading "Jesus Barabbas." Gill renders the Syriac sense as "the son of a father" and moralises it; Cambridge allows "Son of a Rabbi." Pulpit sees in the title a "hideous caricature" of the true Son of the Father, which is a reading of the name, not a translation of it.
17

So when the crowd had assembled, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

oun autōn synēgmenōn ho Pilatos eipen autois Tina thelete apolysō hymin ton Barabban ē Iēsoun ton legomenon Christon

Word by word18 · parsed
οὖνounSoG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
αὐτῶνautōnvvvG846
√ 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
συνηγμένωνsynēgmenōnwhen [the crowd] had assembledG4863
√ συνάγω — to lead together, iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveGenitive Masculine Plural
synagō: to lead together, to gather A perfect participle: the assembling is complete, the court of public opinion is seated. Cambridge reads the procedure as constitutional in its own way, "an appeal was made to the people, not to the Sanhedrin."
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠιλᾶτοςPilatosPilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenaskedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisthemG846
√ 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 Plural
ΤίναTinaWhich [one]G5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
tis: who, which, what The interrogative that puts the verdict into the accusative and into the crowd's mouth.
θέλετεtheletedo you wantG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
thelō: to determine as an active option Second person plural now: the will that v. 15 described as habit is addressed directly. Pilate does not ask what is just; he asks what they want.
ἀπολύσωapolysōme to releaseG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Singular
apolyō: to free fully (aorist subjunctive) A deliberative subjunctive, the mood of a man weighing his own act. The same verb that named the annual amnesty in v. 15 is now the instrument of an evasion: Pilate hopes the custom will acquit Jesus so that he need not.
ὑμῖνhyminto youG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΒαραββᾶνBarabbanBarabbasG912
√ Βαραββᾶς — son of AbbaNounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸνtonwhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
λεγόμενονlegomenonis calledG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
legō: to say, to call The identical participle used of Barabbas in v. 16. Matthew's Greek offers the crowd two men equally described as "the one being called."
ΧριστόνChristonChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Christos: anointed Pilate uses the title without believing it. Barnes: "Pilate probably did not believe it, or care much for it. He used the name which Jesus had acquired among the people." The accusative Χριστόν is therefore on trial as a popular claim, not confessed as a fact, and it is in that reduced form that the crowd rejects it.
18

For he knew it was out of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar ēdei hoti dia phthonon paredōkan auton

Word by word7 · parsed
γὰρgarForG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ᾔδειēdeihe knewG1492
√ εἴδω — used only in certain past tenses, the others being borrowed from the equivalent G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) and G3708 (ὁράω)VerbPluperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
eidō: to see, and so to know Pluperfect: Pilate's knowledge of the accusers' motive is already complete when he opens his mouth. Gill locates the evidence in what the governor could see: "He saw in their countenances, and by their charges against him, and by the whole of their conduct, that it was not out of any regard to Caesar." Matthew supplies the judge's own mind so that no reader can treat the coming sentence as an honest mistake.
ὅτιhoti[it was]G3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
διὰdiaout ofG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
φθόνονphthononenvy [that]G5355
√ φθόνος — ill-will (as detraction), iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
phthonos: ill-will, as detraction Not anger at a crime but resentment of a standing. Ellicott specifies it as "fear of the loss of influence and power, if the work of the new Teacher was to continue." Envy is the only motive Matthew names in the whole trial, and it is named by a pagan's diagnosis rather than by the accusers' own charge, which was sedition.
παρέδωκανparedōkanthey had handed [Jesus] overG3860
√ παραδίδωμι — to surrender, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
paradidōmi: to surrender, to hand over The verb that carries the entire passion: Judas hands Jesus to the priests, the priests hand him to Pilate, and in v. 26 Pilate hands him to be crucified. Here it is the priests' act, and the point of the verse is that the man to whom they handed him knew exactly why.
αὐτόνautonto 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 PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
19

While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered terribly in a dream today because of Him.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de autou Kathēmenou epi tou bēmatos autou hē gynē apesteilen pros auton legousa Mēden soi kai ekeinō tō dikaiō gar epathon polla kat’ onar sēmeron di’ auton

Word by word27 · parsed
δὲde[While]G1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautouvvvG846
√ 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
ΚαθημένουKathēmenou[Pilate] was sittingG2521
√ κάθημαι — and (to sitVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveGenitive Masculine Singular
kathēmai: to sit A genitive absolute with a present participle: the message arrives while the court is in session, not before it.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τοῦtoutheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Neuter Singular
βήματοςbēmatosjudgment seatG968
√ βῆμα — a step, iNounGenitive Neuter Singular
bēma: a step, a raised tribunal The platform of official judgment, set, Ellicott notes, "upon a Mosaic pavement" and "indispensable to the official action of any provincial ruler." The same Greek word names the tribunal of God before which all must stand (Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10). Matthew does not draw that line, but he does place the judged Christ beneath a βῆμα while a warning about him is read aloud from below.
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
ἡhēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Feminine Singular
γυνὴgynēwifeG1135
√ γυνή — a womanNounNominative Feminine Singular
gynē: a woman, a wife Unnamed in Scripture. Cambridge and Ellicott both pass on the tradition "Claudia Procula" from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and Pulpit records that the Greek Church canonised her; Gill reports an Ethiopic tradition naming her Abrokla. The name is tradition, not text.
ἀπέστειλενapesteilensentG649
√ ἀποστέλλω — set apart, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
πρὸςprosG4314
√ πρός — a preposition of directionPreposition
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
λέγουσαlegousathis messageG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Feminine Singular
ΜηδὲνMēdenHave nothing to do withG3367
√ μηδείς — not even one (man, woman, thing)AdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
mēdeis: not even one thing An absolute negative standing where a verb should be: the sharpest possible severance, "nothing between you and that righteous man."
σοὶsoi. . .G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
καὶkai. . .G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἐκείνῳekeinōthatG1565
√ ἐκεῖνος — that one (or (neuter) thing)Demonstrative PronounDative Masculine Singular
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Singular
δικαίῳdikaiōinnocent [man]G1342
√ δίκαιος — equitable (in character or act)AdjectiveDative Masculine Singular
dikaios: equitable in character or act, righteous The only positive verdict spoken about Jesus by anyone in the whole trial, and it comes from outside Israel and outside the court. Benson presses the providence of it: "when the chief priests pronounced him guilty of death, Pilate declared he found no fault in him." Read with v. 4 of this same chapter, where Judas confesses that the blood he betrayed was innocent, the innocence of the accused is established twice over by hostile or indifferent witnesses before any verdict is reached.
γὰρgarforG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
ἔπαθονepathonI have sufferedG3958
√ πάσχω — to experience a sensation or impression (usually painful)VerbAorist Indicative Active1st Person Singular
paschō: to experience a sensation or impression, usually painful A pagan woman uses the passion verb of her own night. The irony is in the Greek and not in the English: ἔπαθον πολλὰ is the construction the Gospels use of Christ's own suffering many things (Matthew 16:21, Mark 9:12). Her dream made her suffer on his account; the day will make him suffer on the world's.
πολλὰpollaterriblyG4183
√ πολύς — (singular) much (in any respect) or (plural) manyAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Plural
κατ’kat’inG2596
√ κατά — (prepositionally) down (in place or time), in varied relations (according to the case (genitive, dative or accusative) with which it is joined)Preposition
ὄναρonara dreamG3677
√ ὄναρ — a dreamNounAccusative Neuter Singular
onar: a dream A rare noun: six verses in the New Testament, every one of them in Matthew. Four warn Joseph and the magi at the beginning of the Gospel (1:20, 2:12, 2:13, 2:22); this is the last, and it warns a Gentile judge at the end. Ellicott honestly refuses to say where it came from, and Gill notes that some have thought it "from the devil, willing to hinder the death of Christ," then argues against that. The text says only that she dreamed and that she was frightened.
σήμερονsēmerontodayG4594
√ σήμερον — on the (iAdverb
δι’di’because ofG1223
√ διά — through (in very wide applications, local, causal, or occasional)Preposition
αὐτόνautonHimG846
√ 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
20

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hoi archiereis kai hoi presbyteroi epeisan tous ochlous hina aitēsōntai ton Barabban de apolesōsin ton Iēsoun

Word by word17 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ 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
archiereus: the high priest, chief priest The office charged with bringing sacrifice for the people is here the agency that secures an execution. Matthew names priests and elders together, the sacral and the civil leadership of Israel, working a crowd.
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
πρεσβύτεροιpresbyteroieldersG4245
√ πρεσβύτερος — olderAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
presbyteros: older, an elder Paired with the priests throughout Matthew's passion as the settled leadership of the nation.
ἔπεισανepeisanpersuadedG3982
√ πείθω — to convince (by argument, true or false)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
peithō: to convince, by argument true or false The verb is neutral about truth and so exposes the method. Barnes describes the machinery: "in a popular tumult, among a flexible and changing multitude, they easily excited those who, but a little before, had cried Hosanna, to cry, Crucify him." This one verb is Matthew's answer to any reading that blames the mob alone; the crowd is the instrument, and Matthew identifies the hand.
τοὺςtoustheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Plural
ὄχλουςochlouscrowdsG3793
√ ὄχλος — a throng (as borne along)NounAccusative Masculine Plural
ἵναhinatoG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
αἰτήσωνταιaitēsōntaiask forG154
√ αἰτέω — to ask (in genitive case)VerbAorist Subjunctive Middle3rd Person Plural
aiteō: to ask Middle voice, so the crowd asks for itself and takes possession of its request. Peter's sermon reads this verse exactly so: "desired a murderer to be granted unto you" (Acts 3:14), which Cambridge and Benson both cite. The grammar makes the choice theirs even though the persuasion was not.
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΒαραββᾶνBarabbanBarabbasG912
√ Βαραββᾶς — son of AbbaNounAccusative Masculine Singular
δὲdeandG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἀπολέσωσινapolesōsinto have Jesus put to deathG622
√ ἀπόλλυμι — to destroy fully (reflexively, to perish, or lose), literally or figurativelyVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
apollymi: to destroy fully, to ruin, to lose The strongest available verb, and it is not the language of a lawful sentence. Its only other appearance near this Gospel's opening is Matthew 2:13, where Herod seeks the child "to destroy him." The Gospel therefore opens and closes with a plan to destroy Jesus: the first frustrated by a dream, the second unhindered by one.
τὸνton. . .G3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἸησοῦνIēsoun. . .G2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
21

“Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they replied.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Tina apo tōn dyo thelete apolysō hymin de Apokritheis ho hēgemōn eipen autois Ton Barabban de Hoi eipan

Word by word18 · parsed
ΤίναTinaWhichG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀπὸapoofG575
√ ἀπό — "off," iPreposition
τῶνtōntheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Masculine Plural
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
dyo: two The number that defines the whole unit. Two prisoners, one custom, one voice, and a choice with no third option.
θέλετεtheletedo you wantG2309
√ θέλω — to determine (as an active option from subjective impulseVerbPresent Indicative Active2nd Person Plural
ἀπολύσωapolysōme to releaseG630
√ ἀπολύω — to free fully, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Singular
apolyō: to free fully (aorist subjunctive) Pilate's third use of the amnesty verb. Each repetition narrows the alternatives, and this one confines the outcome to two named men. Pulpit notices the trap even in success: had Jesus been freed here, "his liberation would not have been, as it ought to have been, an act of simple justice, but an imperial concession, an act of grace."
ὑμῖνhyminto youG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἈποκριθεὶςApokritheisaskedG611
√ ἀποκρίνομαι — to conclude for oneself, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
apokrinomai: to conclude for oneself, to answer The idiomatic participle of reply; Matthew's narrative Greek pairs it with a verb of speaking as a matter of course.
ὁhotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἡγεμὼνhēgemōngovernorG2232
√ ἡγεμών — a leader, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
εἶπενeipenG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ 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 Plural
ΤὸνTonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ΒαραββᾶνBarabbanBarabbasG912
√ Βαραββᾶς — son of AbbaNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Barabbas: son of a father Two words in Greek, and with them a bound man goes free and a free man is bound. Gill draws out the measure of it: Christ is "accounted worse than the worst of them." Benson calls the heavens to be astonished. Matthew simply records the name and moves on.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
εἶπανeipanthey repliedG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
22

“What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify Him!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Ti oun poiēsō Iēsoun ton legomenon Christon ho Pilatos Legei autois pantes Legousin Staurōthētō

Word by word14 · parsed
ΤίTiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
οὖνounthenG3767
√ οὖν — (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordinglyConjunction
ποιήσωpoiēsōshould I do withG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active1st Person Singular
poieō: to make or do A deliberative subjunctive: the judge asks the defendants' accusers what he should do. Gill hears astonishment in it, and Pulpit hears cowardice: "He dared not act boldly, as his conscience and the justice of the case dictated." Both are reading the same grammatical fact, that the verb is a question and not a ruling.
ἸησοῦνIēsounJesusG2424
√ Ἰησοῦς — Jesus (iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
τὸνtonwhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
λεγόμενονlegomenonis calledG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ΧριστόνChristonChristG5547
√ Χριστός — anointed, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
Christos: anointed Pilate repeats the full formula of v. 17, τὸν λεγόμενον Χριστόν, so the title is in the air when the sentence is shouted: what the crowd demands to be crucified is, on the court's own record, the one called Messiah. Pulpit hears contempt in the repetition, saying Pilate names the claim "in scorn of the title itself, and of the fickleness which honoured him one day and now clamored for his destruction." ⚙ The accusative case is the point: from v. 17 to v. 23 the Messiah is never the subject of a verb in this scene, only ever the object of someone else's deciding.
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ΠιλᾶτοςPilatosPilateG4091
√ Πιλᾶτος — close-pressed, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
ΛέγειLegeiaskedG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisG846
√ 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 Plural
πάντεςpantesvvvG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Masculine Plural
pas: all, every, the whole πάντες, all of them. Matthew records no dissenting voice in the courtyard. Cambridge notes the unanimity as the collapse of procedure, and Pulpit that "all his friends were scattered or silenced."
ΛέγουσινLegousinThey all answeredG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ΣταυρωθήτωStaurōthētōCrucify HimG4717
√ σταυρόω — to impale on the crossVerbAorist Imperative Passive3rd Person Singular
stauroō: to impale on the cross Aorist passive imperative, third person: the form of a sentence handed down, not a request made. Gill documents what the sentence meant in Roman practice, a death "inflicted on the meanest and worst of men," and Ellicott observes that this is the first time in Matthew the mode of death is named aloud by anyone but Jesus himself (Matthew 20:19). The crowd here chooses the very punishment Barabbas had earned.
23

“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

gar de Ho ephē Ti kakon epoiēsen de Hoi ekrazon perissōs legontes Staurōthētō

Word by word13 · parsed
γὰρgarWhyG1063
√ γάρ — properly, assigning a reason (used in argument, explanation or intensificationConjunction
gar: assigning a reason A reasoning particle, not an interrogative; the English "Why?" is an interpretation of it.
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὉHoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἔφηephēasked [Pilate]G5346
√ φημί — to show or make known one's thoughts, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
ΤίTiWhatG5101
√ τίς — an interrogative pronoun, who, which or what (in direct or indirect questions)Interrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
κακὸνkakonevilG2556
√ κακός — worthless (intrinsically, suchAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
kakos: worthless, evil intrinsically Strong's root sense is intrinsic worthlessness, so the question asks after a real defect and not merely a broken rule. Gill presses the answer the text gives: "he came into the world without sin, he did none in it; he knew no sin, nor could any be found in him, by Satan, nor his accusers, nor his judge." Benson runs the same question through every category, God, Caesar, the public peace, private persons, and finds nothing.
ἐποίησενepoiēsenhas He doneG4160
√ ποιέω — to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
poieō: to make or do The same verb Pilate used of himself in v. 22 ("what shall I do?") now turned on Jesus ("what has he done?"). The judge's own deed and the prisoner's deeds stand side by side in one root, and only one of the two men will be found to have done evil.
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ΟἱHoiG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Plural
ἔκραζονekrazonthey shoutedG2896
√ κράζω — properly, to "croak" (as a raven) or scream, iVerbImperfect Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
krazō: properly to croak as a raven, to scream Imperfect, unbroken: the crowd's answer to a demand for evidence is noise. Benson names the logic exactly: "what was wanting in evidence to make up in clamour." Pulpit adds the political reading, that the mob "saw that he would end by yielding to their violence," which is the condition under which every unjust verdict in Scripture is reached.
περισσῶςperissōsall the louderG4057
√ περισσῶς — superabundantlyAdverb
perissōs: superabundantly Excess, not merely volume. The adverb marks the moment the proceeding stops being a trial.
λέγοντεςlegontesG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Plural
ΣταυρωθήτωStaurōthētōCrucify HimG4717
√ σταυρόω — to impale on the crossVerbAorist Imperative Passive3rd Person Singular

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 custom no law commanded — 27:15-16

Matthew opens with a pluperfect: the governor εἰώθει (ἔθω, G1486), "had grown accustomed," to loose one prisoner at the feast. The verb is rare, four verses in the whole New Testament, and the sources cannot agree where the practice came from. Ellicott concedes plainly that "it is not known when the practice began, nor whether it was primarily a Jewish or a Roman one," and leans Roman on the analogy of the lectisternium. Gill is blunter: it was "not a law, but a custom," not enjoined by Moses, and he reports finding no trace of it in the rabbinic writings. Cambridge agrees that "no trace of this custom is found in the Talmud" and floats Herod the Great as the importer of a Greek and Roman usage. Only the Pulpit Commentary holds out for an Exodus memorial, "most probably an institution established of old time in memory of the Exodus." ⚙ We record the disagreement and follow the majority of the named voices: nothing in the Law of God authorises the release of a murderer, and the machinery by which Christ is condemned is therefore pagan clemency, not covenant mercy. Into that machinery Matthew introduces ἐπίσημον (G1978), a word so rare that its only other New Testament occurrence is a commendation of believers. Barnes is careful that it means one "distinguished" either "for great virtues or great crimes." Matthew then gives the man a patronymic rather than a name, Barabbas, son of a father, and introduces him with the identical participle λεγόμενον that will introduce "Jesus, the one being called Christ." Pulpit hears the mockery in it, "a hideous caricature of the true Jesus, the Son of the eternal Father," which is a reading of the name and not a translation of it.

ii. The question that cannot acquit — 27:17-18

Pilate's question is a deliberative subjunctive, ἀπολύσω, "am I to release?", with the two names joined by nothing but the bare disjunctive ἢ. Gill states the strategy: "His view was not to reproach Christ, by joining him with so wicked a man, but in order to save him." Pulpit expects the stratagem to work, since "when it came to choosing between a vile robber and murderer and a beneficent, moral teacher, common sense would guide the choice aright." ⚙ But the grammar defeats the intention, and Cambridge sees it at v. 21: "the very form of the question implied condemnation. Jesus was classed with Barabbas in the category of condemned prisoners." A question shaped as a choice between two condemned men can free one and cannot acquit either. Then Matthew does something no other evangelist's account needs: he opens the judge's mind. ᾔδει is pluperfect, settled prior knowledge, and its object is φθόνον (G5355), ill-will as detraction. Ellicott identifies the envy as "fear of the loss of influence and power"; Gill says Pilate "saw in their countenances" that Caesar had nothing to do with it. Barnes draws the only honest conclusion from the tense, "if Pilate knew this, he was bound to release him himself," and then holds it, without resolution, beside the necessity: "But the Scriptures could not then have been fulfilled."

iii. One voice, and it is a woman's — 27:19

Matthew alone records this, as Cambridge notes. While Pilate sits on the βῆμα (G968), the raised platform of judgment, a message comes from below it, and it has no verb: Μηδὲν σοὶ καὶ ἐκείνῳ τῷ δικαίῳ, "nothing to thee and to that righteous one." Benson refuses BSB's narrowing of δικαίῳ to "innocent man" and calls it "an honourable testimony this, not only to our Lord's innocence, but to his virtue and universal goodness." Pulpit records Wordsworth's observation that "in the whole history of the Passion of Christ no one pleads for him but a woman, the wife of a heathen governor." On the dream, the voices divide and Ellicott declines to decide: "we have no data for answering such questions." Gill reports the suggestion that it came from the devil to hinder the atonement and then argues against it, since the devil was busy instigating the priests. Cambridge and Ellicott pass on the traditional name Claudia Procula from the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, and Gill an Ethiopic tradition naming her Abrokla; ⚙ these are traditions, not text, and Scripture leaves her unnamed. What the Greek does supply is an irony no English version can carry: ἔπαθον, the passion verb itself (πάσχω, G3958), in the first person, on a pagan woman's lips. She suffered many things because of him, and she says so before he suffers anything because of her.

iv. The verdict is manufactured, then owned — 27:20-21

Matthew will not let the mob carry this alone. ἔπεισαν (πείθω, G3982) is, in Strong's own gloss, to convince "by argument, true or false." Ellicott reconstructs the method: Sanhedrin members "mingling with the crowd, whispering, now to this man, now to that." Gill supplies the likely arguments, both the blasphemy verdict and the Roman threat. Barnes explains the sociology, that "in a popular tumult, among a flexible and changing multitude," the same voices that cried Hosanna were turned. Poole puts it shortest: "So much influence had the wicked priests upon the people." And yet the Greek will not let the crowd off either, because αἰτήσωνται is middle voice: they are to ask for themselves, to claim Barabbas as their own. Peter reads it exactly so, and Cambridge and Benson both cite him: "ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you" (Acts 3:14). Cambridge's summary of the choice is unimprovable: "They saved the murderer, and slew the Saviour." ⚙ One further thing lies in the Greek. The verse pairs αἰτήσωνται with ἀπολέσωσιν (ἀπόλλυμι, G622, destroy fully), and that verb stands a syllable from ἀπολύειν (ἀπολύω, G630, release fully) of v. 15. Same prefix, opposite outcome: the loosing of one and the ruin of the other are written almost with the same letters. Then two words answer the governor, Τὸν Βαραββᾶν, and Benson's horror is the fitting response: "as if his merits were greater, and therefore he better deserved to live!"

v. Let him be crucified — 27:22-23

Matthew shifts to historic presents here, Λέγει… Λέγουσιν, and the tense puts the reader in the courtyard. Pilate's ποιήσω is again deliberative, and Pulpit gives the literal accusative, "What then shall I do to Jesus?" The answer is Σταυρωθήτω, an aorist passive imperative in the third person with no object pronoun at all. ⚙ That form matters: a third person passive imperative is the shape of a sentence pronounced, not a favour requested, so what the crowd shouts is not "crucify him" but "let him be crucified," the very words a court would use. The judge has refused to sentence, and the mob sentences instead. Ellicott notes that this is the first time in Matthew anyone but Jesus names the mode of death aloud; Gill documents what it was, a punishment "inflicted on the meanest and worst of men… yea, an accursed one." Cambridge sees procedure collapse entirely: "there is no further question even of a show of legality or justice." Pilate's last question is about evidence, and it comes too late. Benson works through every category of possible offence, against God, against Caesar, against the peace, against any person, and finds nothing; Gill says plainly that no sin "could be found in him, by Satan, nor his accusers, nor his judge." The answer they give is ἔκραζον περισσῶς, an imperfect of a verb Strong's derives from the croak of a raven, piled up beyond measure. Benson's line is the verdict on the verdict: "what was wanting in evidence to make up in clamour."

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

⚙ Our own fallible reading, offered to be tested by Scripture. This passage is the only place in the Gospels where the world is handed an actual ballot, and Matthew is careful to record both that the ballot was rigged and that it was cast. He gives us ἔπεισαν, they were persuaded, so that no one may blame the crowd alone; and he gives us αἰτήσωνται in the middle voice, they asked for themselves, so that no one may excuse it. Both are true at once, and the passage refuses to let either cancel the other. The same doubling runs through every actor. Pilate's knowledge is pluperfect, settled and complete (v. 18), and so his cowardice is not ignorance; yet Barnes is right that "the Scriptures could not then have been fulfilled" had he acted on it. His wife calls Jesus δίκαιος, righteous, from outside Israel and outside the court, and Judas has already called his blood innocent from inside the conspiracy (27:4); the innocence of the accused is established twice by witnesses with no motive to establish it, and then disregarded. What the unit will not permit is a comfortable position. It is easy to read the courtyard as a scene we watch. Matthew Henry will not allow it, and neither will the grammar: "Is not Barabbas preferred to Jesus, when sinners reject salvation that they may retain their darling sins?" The verb of choice, θέλω (G2309), which Strong's defines as an active option from subjective impulse, is put to the crowd twice and is the only thing in the scene that anyone freely does. ⚙ We take the release itself as the plainest thing here and the hardest. No law of God commanded it; Gill and Cambridge can find no Mosaic or rabbinic warrant, and the Pulpit Commentary's Exodus theory is a guess. A pagan habit, therefore, becomes the instrument by which a guilty man walks out of prison alive on the day the innocent man is bound. Scripture does not here call that substitution, and we will not put the word in Matthew's mouth. But the shape of it is unmistakable, and the Geneva note on v. 15 says as much without straining: "Christ is first acquitted by the same judge who condemns him, that we might see how the just dies for the unjust." If that is right, then the crowd in the courtyard did, by the worst act in history, name the only arrangement by which any of them could be saved.

The crowd asked for a guilty man to go free in place of an innocent one, and in the only sense that matters, they were answered.

⚙

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.

Barabbas in all four Gospels: the one name every evangelist keeps verbal / quotation: confirmed

The name Βαραββᾶς (G912) occurs in only ten verses of the New Testament, and all four evangelists record it. Mark 15:7 and Luke 23:19 add what Matthew omits, that he lay bound with insurrectionists and had committed murder in the rising; John 18:40 says simply that he was a robber. Ellicott assembles all three notices, and Cambridge records that "St Mark and St Luke add that Barabbas had committed murder in the insurrection." Mark 15:11 supplies the same causation Matthew gives in v. 20, that the chief priests moved the people to ask for him. Poole, unusually, prints the Markan, Lukan and Johannine accounts in full beside Matthew's, and that harmonising is the older name for what the Verifier does here with lexemes.

Mark 15:7 · Mark 15:11 · Luke 23:18 · John 18:40 · Matthew 27:26

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G912 Βαραββᾶς (freq 10 vv, rare) across all five refs, with G630 ἀπολύω (freq 61) and G3793 ὄχλος (freq 170) at Mark 15:11 and Luke 23:18. All refs are New Testament, so the verbal link is real; note that these are parallel accounts of one event, not quotations of one another

ἐπίσημος: the only two marked men in the New Testament verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἐπίσημος (G1978), "bearing a mark, remarkable," appears in exactly two verses of the New Testament. One is Matthew 27:16, of a murderer the crowd will prefer to Christ. The other is Romans 16:7, where Paul greets Andronicus and Junia as marked, outstanding among the apostles, and adds that they were in Christ before him and had been his fellow prisoners. ⚙ The word is morally neutral, exactly as Barnes says of this verse: it names one "distinguished" either "for great virtues or great crimes." The Verifier's basis is a genuinely rare shared lexeme, and the two uses set the two kinds of fame the New Testament knows: notoriety with a crowd, and honour among those who were in prison for the Lord.

Romans 16:7

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1978 ἐπίσημος (freq 2 vv, the rarest possible shared lexeme, both occurrences being these two verses). Both refs New Testament. No quotation is claimed: the link is lexical and the contrast is ours

ἔθω: the four customs Scripture names with this verb verbal / quotation: confirmed

The verb behind Pilate's habit, ἔθω (G1486, "to be used by habit or conventionality"), occurs in only four verses. Here it is a governor's practice of releasing a prisoner at the feast. At Luke 4:16 it is Christ's own custom of entering the synagogue on the Sabbath. At Acts 17:2 it is Paul's custom of reasoning from the Scriptures. Mark 10:1 uses it of Jesus' habit of teaching the crowds. ⚙ The lexical link is real and the observation is ours: of the four settled habits Scripture marks with this word, three are habits of the word of God, and the fourth is the habit by which the Word was handed over. Gill and Cambridge both insist that Pilate's custom had no warrant in the Law, which sharpens rather than weakens the contrast.

Luke 4:16 · Acts 17:2 · Mark 10:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1486 ἔθω (freq 4 vv, rare) at all three refs, with G3793 ὄχλος (freq 170) additionally at Mark 10:1. All refs New Testament. No quotation is claimed; the tier rests on the rarity of the shared lexeme alone

ὄναρ: Matthew's dreams open and close his Gospel verbal / quotation: confirmed

ὄναρ (G3677) occurs in six verses of the New Testament and every one is in Matthew. Four stand in the infancy narrative: Joseph is told in a dream to take Mary (1:20), the magi are warned in a dream not to return to Herod (2:12), Joseph is warned in a dream to flee because Herod seeks the child to destroy him (2:13), and is directed in a dream to Galilee (2:22). This verse is the last of them. ⚙ Matthew frames his Gospel with warnings given in sleep: at the start they preserve the child's life, and at the end one is sent to a Gentile judge and is ignored. The Verifier also notes that Matthew 2:13 shares G622 ἀπόλλυμι with 27:20, so Herod's plan "to destroy him" and the leaders' plan to destroy Jesus are named with the same verb. Cambridge observes only that this dream is "recorded by St Matthew only," and Ellicott refuses to speculate about its source; we follow him.

Matthew 1:20 · Matthew 2:12 · Matthew 2:13 · Matthew 2:22

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3677 ὄναρ (freq 6 vv, rare, and exclusive to Matthew) at all four refs; Matthew 2:13 additionally shares G622 ἀπόλλυμι (freq 84) with 27:20. All refs within Matthew. The framing observation is ours, not a claim of quotation

Despised and rejected: the pattern Matthew does not quote structural / thematic: confirmed

Matthew makes no formal citation anywhere in this unit. But the scene enacts two Old Testament patterns exactly. Isaiah 53:3 says the servant was despised and rejected of men, and Isaiah 53:12 that he was numbered with transgressors, which is precisely what Gill says of v. 21: Christ "was not only numbered among, and reckoned with transgressors, but he was accounted worse than the worst of them." Psalm 69:4 speaks of those who hate without cause, which is the exact content of Pilate's unanswered question in v. 23, "what evil has he done?" ⚙ We tier this structural and not verbal for a reason the reader should be able to check: Matthew's Greek and Isaiah's Hebrew cannot share Strong's numbers, so no lexical basis exists here, and the Gospel itself supplies no citation formula. The link is a pattern, and we name it as one. The Pulpit Commentary at v. 21 does allow itself the quiet allusion, "Truly, Jesus 'was despised and rejected of men.'"

Isaiah 53:3 · Isaiah 53:12 · Psalm 69:4

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so shared Strong's numbers are impossible and no verbal tier is available. Basis is a shared pattern: the righteous one rejected by his own and numbered with criminals, with no quotation formula anywhere in Matthew 27:15-23. Pulpit alludes to Isaiah 53:3 at v. 21 without claiming a citation

God warns a pagan ruler in a dream about a righteous man structural / thematic: confirmed

Pilate's wife is not the first Gentile household warned in sleep on behalf of someone God is protecting. At Genesis 20:3 God comes to Abimelech in a dream by night about Abraham's wife, and the pagan king acts on it at once. At Genesis 41:1-8 Pharaoh's dreams trouble his spirit at dawn and drive him to send for every wise man in Egypt. ⚙ Matthew 27:19 is the same form with the outcome reversed: the warning comes, the governor receives it, and the righteous man is condemned anyway. Pulpit reads the dream as "divinely sent to convey a lesson to Pilate through his wife," and notes that "as at the beginning of Christ's life, so at its close, such communications were addressed to strangers." Barnes observes that "among the Romans and Greeks, as well as the Jews, great reliance was placed on them." Ellicott will not say where this dream came from, and neither will we.

Genesis 20:3 · Genesis 41:1-8

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew): shared Strong's numbers are impossible, so no verbal tier is available and none is claimed. Basis is a recurring narrative form, God warning or troubling a Gentile ruler by night concerning a righteous man, with the outcome inverted here. Not in the Verifier's candidate list; offered as a pattern, and the inversion is our reading

Leaders procuring a crowd against an innocent man structural / thematic: confirmed

The mechanism Matthew names in v. 20, ἔπεισαν, leaders working a populace to destroy a man they cannot lawfully touch, has an Old Testament template. At 1 Kings 21:9-13 Jezebel writes to the elders and nobles of Naboth's own city, proclaims a fast, sets Naboth on high among the people, and procures false witness so that the assembly itself stones him. ⚙ The correspondences are structural and specific: a religious occasion used as cover, the recognised elders as the agents, the crowd as the executioner, and a lawful proceeding emptied of evidence. Barnes describes the same dynamic here without the parallel, that among "a flexible and changing multitude, they easily excited those who, but a little before, had cried Hosanna." Poole states the result: "So much influence had the wicked priests upon the people."

1 Kings 21:9-13

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek to Hebrew), so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and no verbal tier is claimed. Basis is a shared judicial pattern: elders convening a religious assembly to destroy an innocent man by the crowd's own hand. Not a Verifier candidate; offered as a pattern only

Peter preaches this courtyard back to the same city structural / thematic: confirmed

Within weeks, Peter stands in Jerusalem and describes this exact scene: "ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life" (Acts 3:14-15). Cambridge cites it at v. 20 as bringing out "the full meaning of this choice," and adds "They saved the murderer, and slew the Saviour." Benson cites the same verse at v. 21, and Gill points the reader to it again. ⚙ Peter's ᾐτήσασθε is the same middle voice Matthew uses in v. 20: you asked for him for yourselves. The identification is an apostolic reading of this event and not a lexical coincidence, which is why we tier it structural rather than verbal.

Acts 3:14-15

basis: Not in the Verifier's candidate list, so no computed shared-lexeme basis is claimed. Basis is an explicit apostolic reference back to this same event (a murderer asked for, the Just One denied), cited at Matthew 27:20 by Cambridge and at 27:21 by Benson and Gill. Both refs are New Testament, but the tier rests on reference, not on a rare lexeme

The feast release: Roman amnesty or Exodus memorial? flagged: verify source

John 18:39 has Pilate say "ye have a custom," and Luke 23:17 (in the manuscripts that carry it) says "of necessity he must release one unto them at the feast," while Mark 15:8 has the crowd asking him to do "as he had ever done unto them." The four descriptions do not agree about whose custom it was, and the commentators divide accordingly. Gill searched the rabbinic writings and found "not the least trace of any such custom of theirs." Cambridge confirms that "no trace of this custom is found in the Talmud" and proposes Herod the Great as the importer of a Graeco-Roman usage. Ellicott leans to a Latin lectisternium. Against all of them, Pulpit asserts it "was, however, most probably an institution established of old time in memory of the Exodus." ⚙ We flag this rather than settle it. No passage of the Law of Moses commands or permits the release of a condemned murderer, and any thread that reads the feast amnesty as a Passover ordinance is resting on Pulpit's conjecture alone.

John 18:39 · Luke 23:17 · Mark 15:8

basis: Provenance of the custom is contested among the named voices: Gill, Cambridge and Ellicott judge it Roman or Graeco-Roman with no Talmudic trace, while Pulpit calls it an Exodus memorial. No Mosaic warrant exists in the Old Testament text, and Luke 23:17 is itself textually disputed. Flagged so that no reader treats the amnesty as a covenant institution

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The just dies for the unjust, and the court says so first ancient/widely-held

The Geneva note on v. 15 states the redemptive logic in one line: "Christ is first acquitted by the same judge who condemns him, that we might see how the just dies for the unjust." Matthew builds that acquittal from hostile materials. Judas testifies to innocent blood (27:4); Pilate's wife calls him δίκαιος, righteous (v. 19); Pilate himself knows the charge is envy (v. 18) and can name no evil done (v. 23). Barnes observes "the wisdom of the overruling providence of God, that he was condemned by a man who was satisfied of his innocence." Matthew Henry states the substitution outright: "Christ suffered for no fault of his own, but for the sins of his people… None could bear the sin of others, except Him that had no sin of his own to answer for." Peter's own reading of the scene is the same (Acts 3:14-15), and Isaiah 53:12 had said the servant would be numbered with transgressors. ⚙ The passage is thus a legal record in which the innocence of the condemned is established on the record by his condemners, which is exactly what a substitutionary death requires.

1 Peter 3:18 · Isaiah 53:12 · Acts 3:14-15 · 2 Corinthians 5:21

One prisoner loosed, one handed over: the Passover arrangement no one intended novel

At the feast, two men stand bound. One is guilty of insurrection and murder; he is loosed and walks free into the city. One has done no evil that any accuser, judge or witness can name; he is handed over to be crucified. ⚙ We do not claim Matthew says this is an atonement transaction; he says nothing of the kind, and no voice in this unit makes the argument. But the shape is there in the Greek, in the single prefix that carries both halves: ἀπολύειν (G630, to loose fully) for the guilty man and ἀπολέσωσιν (G622, to destroy fully) for the innocent, one sentence apart. Pulpit, quoting Quesnel, comes nearest: the choice was "on their part guilty and malevolent, but on the part of God necessary for our salvation." Gill's v. 21 note supplies the other half, that Christ was "accounted worse than the worst of them." Readers may hear the two goats of Leviticus 16:7-10 here, one for the Lord and one let go; we note that none of the ten named commentators on this unit draws that line, and we therefore mark the figure as ours and not as the church's settled reading.

Leviticus 16:7-10 · Romans 5:6 · Isaiah 53:6

Beneath the βῆμα, and seated on it novel

In v. 19 Christ stands beneath the βῆμα (G968), the raised tribunal that Ellicott calls "indispensable to the official action of any provincial ruler," while a man who knows he is innocent sits above him and asks the crowd what he should do. The reversal is a commonplace of Christian reading and it is genuinely ancient: the judged one is the judge, and Matthew's own Gospel has already promised that the Son of Man will sit on his throne of glory with all nations gathered before him (Matthew 25:31-32). ⚙ What is our own contribution here is the lexical hinge, and we mark it as ours: βῆμα is the very word Paul uses of the tribunal before which every believer must appear (2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10). Matthew does not make that connection and Paul does not make it back. We offer it only as an observation about one Greek noun, and the theological weight belongs to the wider reversal, not to the word.

Matthew 25:31-32 · 2 Corinthians 5:10 · Romans 14:10

The crowd's sentence becomes the Gospel's word ancient/widely-held

The mob's cry in vv. 22 and 23 is Σταυρωθήτω, an aorist passive imperative of σταυρόω (G4717): "let him be crucified." Ellicott notes it is the first time the mode of death is named aloud by anyone other than Jesus, who had foretold precisely this (Matthew 20:19), and Pulpit says so: "This was the death which Christ had foretold for himself." Gill documents what the word meant to Rome, a punishment reserved for "the meanest and worst of men… yea, an accursed one," which is the point Paul will press from Deuteronomy 21:23 (Galatians 3:13). ⚙ The verb the crowd screams becomes the central noun of apostolic preaching: the cross, a scandal to those who are perishing and the power of God to those who are saved (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23). Matthew Henry turns it on the reader rather than the crowd: "The blood of Christ is now upon us for good, through mercy… O let us flee to it for refuge!"

Matthew 20:19 · Galatians 3:13 · 1 Corinthians 1:18

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. Greek from the Berean interlinear with Strong's numbers; English readings quoted are BSB. One variant genuinely bears on the unit: at v. 16 (and v. 17) some manuscripts read "Jesus Barabbas." Ellicott judges the evidence for it "considerable, though not quite decisive"; Cambridge says it "is rightly rejected by the best editors" and cites Alford that v. 20 is fatal to the insertion; Pulpit calls the manuscripts carrying it "not very trustworthy." We have not adopted it, and no reading above depends on it. A second textual matter is external: Luke 23:17, cited by Pulpit and Poole for "of necessity he must release one," is absent from some witnesses, which is one more reason the feast custom is flagged rather than asserted.

Sources. Ten commentators were supplied. Nine are quoted above (Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, Poole, Gill, Geneva, Cambridge, Pulpit). The tenth, Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, is not quoted anywhere in this unit for a straightforward reason: every JFB entry across all nine verses is the same cross-reference stub directing the reader to their notes on Luke 23 and John 18, with no exposition of Matthew's text. Geneva's entries are mostly bare reprints of the verse; the single substantive Geneva gloss in this unit, at v. 15, is the one we quote. Benson's entry at v. 19 and Poole's at v. 23 are capped in the brief, and we quoted only from the visible portion.

What the sources dispute. The origin of the feast release (Roman custom per Gill, Cambridge and Ellicott; Exodus memorial per Pulpit). The sense of δίκαιος in v. 19 ("righteous" per Benson; "innocent" per Barnes). The source of the dream (divine per Pulpit and Gill; natural per Ellicott's preference; devilish per a view Gill reports and rejects; undeterminable per Poole). The subject of εἶχον in v. 16 (the multitude, or Pilate with the Vulgate and Origen). We have recorded each division rather than choosing for the reader.

What is ours and fallible. The ⚙ observations on the ἀπολύω and ἀπόλλυμι pairing in vv. 15 and 20; the force of the third person passive imperative Σταυρωθήτω as a pronounced sentence rather than a request; the middle voice of αἰτήσωνται as the crowd's ownership of a manufactured demand; the framing of Matthew's six ὄναρ verses; the βῆμα lexical link to 2 Corinthians 5:10, marked novel; and the Leviticus 16 figure, marked novel and explicitly not supported by any voice in this unit. Two personal names in the tradition (Claudia Procula, Abrokla) come from apocryphal and late sources and are not in Scripture. Every cross-Testament thread here is tiered structural because Greek and Hebrew cannot share Strong's numbers, and because Matthew quotes no Old Testament text anywhere in 27:15-23.

✦ = 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)