Mark 15:12

15:12 So Pilate spoke to them again, 1  “Then what do you want me to do 2  with the one you call king of the Jews?”

Mark 15:15

15:15 Because he wanted to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. Then, 3  after he had Jesus flogged, 4  he handed him over 5  to be crucified.

Mark 15:44

15:44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He 6  called the centurion and asked him if he had been dead for some time.

1 tn Grk “answering, Pilate spoke to them again.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

2 tc Instead of “what do you want me to do” several witnesses, including the most important ones (א B C W Δ Ψ Ë1,13 33 892 2427 pc), lack θέλετε (qelete, “you want”), turning the question into the more abrupt “what should I do?” Although the witnesses for the longer reading are not as significant (A D Θ 0250 Ï latt sy), the reading without θέλετε conforms to Matt 27:22 and thus is suspected of being a scribal emendation. The known scribal tendency to assimilate one synoptic passage to another parallel, coupled with the lack of such assimilation in mss that are otherwise known to do this most frequently (the Western and Byzantine texts), suggests that θέλετε is authentic. Further, Mark’s known style of being generally more verbose and redundant than Matthew’s argues that θέλετε is authentic here. That this is the longer reading, however, and that a good variety of witnesses omit the word, gives one pause. Perhaps the wording without θέλετε would have been perceived as having greater homiletical value, motivating scribes to move in this direction. A decision is difficult, but on the whole internal evidence leads toward regarding θέλετε as authentic.

3 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

4 tn The Greek term φραγελλόω (fragellow) refers to flogging. BDAG 1064 s.v. states, “flog, scourge, a punishment inflicted on slaves and provincials after a sentence of death had been pronounced on them. So in the case of Jesus before the crucifixion…Mt 27:26; Mk 15:15.”

sn A Roman flogging (traditionally, “scourging”) was an excruciating punishment. The victim was stripped of his clothes and bound to a post with his hands fastened above him (or sometimes he was thrown to the ground). Guards standing on either side of the victim would incessantly beat him with a whip (flagellum) made out of leather with pieces of lead and bone inserted into its ends. While the Jews only allowed 39 lashes, the Romans had no such limit; many people who received such a beating died as a result. See C. Schneider, TDNT, 4:515-19.

5 tn Or “delivered him up.”

6 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.