19:28 After this Jesus, realizing that by this time 5 everything was completed, 6 said (in order to fulfill the scripture), 7 “I am thirsty!” 8
1 tn Grk “but choose by lot” (probably by using marked pebbles or broken pieces of pottery). A modern equivalent, “throw dice,” was chosen here because of its association with gambling.
2 tn Grk “to see whose it will be.”
3 tn The words “This took place” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
4 tn Grk “cast lots.” See the note on “throw dice” earlier in the verse.
sn A quotation from Ps 22:18.
5 tn Or “that already.”
6 tn Or “finished,” “accomplished”; Grk “fulfilled.”
7 sn A reference to Ps 69:21 or Ps 22:15.
8 sn In order to fulfill (τελειωθῇ [teleiwqh], a wordplay on the previous statement that everything was completed [τετέλεσται, tetelestai]) the scripture, he said, “I am thirsty.” The scripture referred to is probably Ps 69:21, “They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” Also suggested, however, is Ps 22:15, “My tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth, and you [God] lay me in the dust of death.” Ps 22:1 reads “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?,” a statement Jesus makes from the cross in both Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34. In light of the connection in the Fourth Gospel between thirst and the living water which Jesus offers, it is highly ironic that here Jesus himself, the source of that living water, expresses his thirst. And since 7:39 associates the living water with the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ statement here in 19:28 amounts to an admission that at this point he has been forsaken by God (cf. Ps 22:1, Matt 27:46, and Mark 15:34).