Markus 15:17-19

15:17 They put a purple cloak ¹  on him and after braiding ²  a crown of thorns, ³  they put it on him. 15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁴  15:19 Again and again ⁵  they struck him on the head with a staff ⁶  and spit on him. Then they knelt down and paid homage to him.

Yohanes 19:2-3

19:2 The soldiers ⁷  braided ⁸  a crown of thorns ⁹  and put it on his head, and they clothed him in a purple robe. ¹⁰  19:3 They ¹¹  came up to him again and again ¹²  and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!” ¹³  And they struck him repeatedly ¹⁴  in the face.

[15:17]  ¹ sn The purple cloak probably refers to a military garment which had the color of royal purple, and thus resembled a king’s robe. The soldiers did this to Jesus as a form of mockery in view of the charges that he was a king (cf. 15:2).

[15:17]  ² tn Or “weaving.”

[15:17]  ³ sn The crown may have been made from palm spines or some other thorny plant common in Israel. In placing the crown of thorns on his head, the soldiers were unwittingly symbolizing God’s curse on humanity (cf. Gen 3:18) being placed on Jesus. Their purpose would have been to mock Jesus’ claim to be a king; the crown of thorns would have represented the “radiant corona” portrayed on the heads of rulers on coins and other artifacts in the 1st century.

[15:18]  ⁴ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[15:18]  sn The statement Hail, King of the Jews! is a mockery patterned after the Romans’ cry of Ave, Caesar (“Hail, Caesar!”).

[15:19]  ⁵ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

[15:19]  ⁶ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

[19:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “And the soldiers.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:2]  ⁸ tn Or “wove.”

[19:2]  ⁹ sn The crown of thorns was a crown plaited of some thorny material, intended as a mockery of Jesus’ “kingship.” Traditionally it has been regarded as an additional instrument of torture, but it seems more probable the purpose of the thorns was not necessarily to inflict more physical suffering but to imitate the spikes of the “radiant corona,” a type of crown portrayed on ruler’s heads on many coins of the period; the spikes on this type of crown represented rays of light pointing outward (the best contemporary illustration is the crown on the head of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor).

[19:2]  ¹⁰ sn The purple color of the robe indicated royal status. This was further mockery of Jesus, along with the crown of thorns.

[19:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:3]  ¹² tn The words “again and again” are implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἤρχοντο (hrconto).

[19:3]  ¹³ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

[19:3]  sn The greeting used by the soldiers, “Hail, King of the Jews!”, is a mockery based on the standard salutation for the Roman emperor, “Ave, Caesar!” (“Hail to Caesar!”).

[19:3]  ¹⁴ tn The word “repeatedly” is implied by the (iterative) imperfect verb ἐδιδοσαν (edidosan).