Bible Synapse
What exactly did the inscription over the cross say?
Hard question · The death and resurrection of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Over his head: “THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS”.
And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
“And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
And the superscription of his accusation was written over, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
“THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
Pilate wrote “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS”, in Hebrew, Greek and Latin.
And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin.
The objection
The four Gospels give four different wordings of the notice fixed to the cross. If the evangelists cannot agree on one short sentence written up in public, critics ask, how can their accounts be accurate?
The answer
All four give the same charge, “THE KING OF THE JEWS”, and that was the point of the notice: it stated the crime for which the man was being executed. Mark, who calls it “the superscription of his accusation”, gives just the charge. Luke adds the words ‘This is’, Matthew ‘This is Jesus’, and John the fullest form, “JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS”. Each shorter form is contained in a fuller one, and none of the Gospels claims to give the complete text.
John also tells us that the notice was written in three languages, Hebrew (probably meaning Aramaic), Greek and Latin (John 19:20). The wording may well have differed a little from one language to another, and different evangelists may have rendered different versions, as Barnes suggests. In any case ancient writers commonly reported the substance of what was written or said rather than an exact copy, as people still do. A combined form, ‘This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews’, fits all four reports.
From the classic commentators
John says that the title was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. It is not at all improbable that the inscription "varied" in these languages. One evangelist may have translated it from the Hebrew, another from the Greek, a third from the LatinAlbert Barnes, Notes on the Bible, on Matthew 27 (1832)
Sources
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Matthew 27 (1832), at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: John 19 (1871), at Bible Hub