Exegesis:
triton adverb, ‘for the third time.’
ti gar kakon epoiēsen houtos ‘why, what evil has he done?’ gar has lost its causal meaning and is used here in an inferential or transitional sense.
ouden aition thanatou lit. ‘nothing guilty of death,’ i.e. ‘no ground for capital punishment.’
Translation:
Why, what evil has he done?, or, ‘now tell me, what crime (or, bad deed, or, evil thing) has he done?,’ “What is his crime, then?” (Phillips, similarly Javanese). The next two sentences combine parts of vv. 4, 15 and 16 (which see).
Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.
