Matthew 27:29

27:29 and after braiding ¹  a crown of thorns, ²  they put it on his head. They ³  put a staff ⁴  in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: ⁵  “Hail, king of the Jews!” ⁶ 

Matthew 27:31

27:31 When ⁷  they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then ⁸  they led him away to crucify him.

Matthew 27:41

27:41 In ⁹  the same way even the chief priests – together with the experts in the law ¹⁰  and elders ¹¹  – were mocking him: ¹² 

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¹ tn Or “weaving.”

² 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.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁴ tn Or “a reed.” The Greek term can mean either “staff” or “reed.” See BDAG 502 s.v. κάλαμος 2.

⁵ tn Grk “they mocked him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant and has not been translated.

⁶ tn Or “Long live the King of the Jews!”

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

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁰ tn Or “with the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

¹¹ tn Only “chief priests” is in the nominative case; this sentence structure attempts to capture this emphasis.

¹² tn Grk “Mocking him, the chief priests…said.”