Markus 15:16-20

Jesus is Mocked

15:16 So ¹  the soldiers led him into the palace (that is, the governor’s residence) ²  and called together the whole cohort. ³  15:17 They put a purple cloak ⁴  on him and after braiding ⁵  a crown of thorns, ⁶  they put it on him. 15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁷  15:19 Again and again ⁸  they struck him on the head with a staff ⁹  and spit on him. Then they knelt down and paid homage to him. 15:20 When they had finished mocking ¹⁰  him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes back on him. Then ¹¹  they led him away to crucify him. ¹² 

Markus 15:29-31

15:29 Those who passed by defamed him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 15:30 save yourself and come down from the cross!” ¹³  15:31 In the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ¹⁴  – were mocking him among themselves: ¹⁵  “He saved others, but he cannot save himself!

[15:16]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has been translated as “So” to indicate that the soldiers’ action is in response to Pilate’s condemnation of the prisoner in v. 15.

[15:16]  ² tn Grk “(that is, the praetorium).”

[15:16]  sn The governor’s residence (Grk “praetorium”) was the Roman governor’s official residence. The one in Jerusalem may have been Herod’s palace in the western part of the city, or the fortress Antonia northwest of the temple area.

[15:16]  ³ sn A Roman cohort was a tenth of a legion, about 500-600 soldiers.

[15:17]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “weaving.”

[15:17]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The verb here has been translated as an iterative imperfect.

[15:19]  ⁹ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

[15:20]  ¹⁰ tn The aorist tense is taken consummatively here.

[15:20]  ¹¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:20]  ¹² sn See the note on Crucify in 15:13.

[15:30]  ¹³ sn There is rich irony in the statement of those who were passing by, “Save yourself and come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life. There is a similar kind of irony in the statement made by the chief priests and experts in the law in 15:31.

[15:31]  ¹⁴ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 1:22. Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

[15:31]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said among themselves.”