Mark 15:9

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Πειλᾶτος

Pilâtos

G4091

“Pilate”

Noun, Nominative, Singular, Masculine

Appears 55× in the Greek New Testament
First appears at Matthew 27:2

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: of Latin origin

TDNT: None

Pilate = "armed with a spear" 1. the sixth Roman procurator of Judah and Samaria who ordered Christ to be crucified

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

13: words
11: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

Πειλᾶτος Pilate G4091 occurs in 53 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

ὁ the G3588 ×3

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Mark 15:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Matthew 27:17–21 When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?"
John 18:39 But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"
John 19:4–5 Then Pilate went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I bring him out to you, that you may know that I find no basis for a charge against him."
John 19:14–16 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, at about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, "Behold, your King!"
Acts 3:13–15 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on Mark 15:9 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

15:9-14 Pilate apparently hoped to release Jesus, but the crowd was stirred up beyond discussion.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Bengel's Gnomon

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Mar 15:9. Τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἰονδαίων, the King of the Jews) A Mimesis [i.e. a using of the words of an opponent in irony, or in order to refute him. See Append.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Expositor's Greek Testament

ed. W. Robertson Nicoll

Mar 15:9 . θέλετε , etc.: Pilate makes the tentative suggestion that the favoured person should be Jesus; whom he designates “King of the Jews,” to see how the people would take a title which the Sanhedrists regarded as a mortal offence.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(9) Will ye that I release unto you . . .?—The form of the question in the Greek implies (as the like form in Joh_18:39) a half hope of an affirmative answer.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

9. But Pilate answered them] The proposition of the people that he should act according to his usual custom concurred with Pilate’s own wishes and hopes, and he resolved deliberately to give the populace their choice.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

But Pilate answered them; saying,.... Being satisfied of the innocence of Jesus, and being willing to dismiss him:

will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews? he who is called so; and which he either said by way of derision both of Christ, and them; or else in order to prevail upon them to ask his release, it being scandalous and reproachful to put their king to death.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

Pilate doubtless hoped that they would ask for Jesus. He knew that the chief priests had delivered our Lord for envy. That he could not help observing, as a shrewd Roman judge, from their gestures and manner. And then he knew also, at least by report, of the purity of Jesus, and of the holy freedom with which he rebuked their vices. So he thought, reasonably enough, that if the chief priests wished to destroy him for envy, the people, who had experienced so many kindnesses from him, would desire that he should live.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Will ye that I release to you the king of the Jews - Which does this wretched man discover most? Want of justice, or courage, or common sense? The poor coward sacrifices justice to popular clamour, and enrages those whom he seeks to appease, by so unseasonably repeating that title, The king of the Jews, which he could not but know was so highly offensive to them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

For he knew that it was because of envy ... Jesus over to him

This is background information about why Jesus was handed over to Pilate. (See: Background Information)

it was because of envy that the chief priests

They envied Jesus, probably because so many people were following him and becoming his disciples. AT: "the chief priests were envious of Jesus. This is why they" or "the chief priests were envious of Jesus' popularity among the people. This is why they" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

stirred up the crowd

The author speaks of the chief priests rousing or urging the crowd as if the crowd were a bowl of something that they were stirring. AT: "roused the crowd" or "urged the crowd" (See: Metaphor)

released instead

They requested Barabbas to be released instead of Jesus. AT: "released instead of Jesus" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

Pilate

King of the Jews

envy

chief priests

hand

cry

Barabbas

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

9. Θέλετε ἀπολύσω. We have the same constr. Mar 10:36; Mar 10:51, Mar 14:12.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Alford’s Greek Testament

Henry Alford

9.] Here our account differs from Matt. and agrees with John ver. 39.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

9. θέλετε ἀπολύσω ὑμῖν τὸν βασιλέα τῶν Ἰουδαίων—Do you wish me to release to you the king of the Jews? Pilate has been informed evidently by the chief priests, that it is the people themselves who have invested Jesus with this title, on his entry into Jerusalem. And he uses the term here, expecting their sympathy.1

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Mark, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 13 words (11 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is Pilâtos (“Pilate”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “Pilate” (Pilâtos) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Matthew 27:2 shares the word «Pilate» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“the” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Reading how Tyndale Open Study Notes and Bengel's Gnomon read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

These translations choose different wording for 6 words in this verse.
“the” occurs 3× in this single verse.
11 distinct Greek lemmas span 13 words in this verse.