Discovery BoxMark 15:18 
Context15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” 1
Mark 15:26
Context15:26 The inscription 2 of the charge against him read, “The king of the Jews.”
Mark 15:32
Context15:32 Let the Christ, 3 the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, that we may see and believe!” Those who were crucified with him also spoke abusively to him. 4
1 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!”).
2 sn Mention of the inscription is an important detail, because the inscription would normally give the reason for the execution. It shows that Jesus was executed for claiming to be a king. It was also probably written with irony from the executioners’ point of view.
3 tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”
sn See the note on Christ in 8:29.
4 sn Mark’s wording suggests that both of the criminals spoke abusively to him. If so, one of them quickly changed his attitude toward Jesus (see Luke 23:40-43).
