15:26a

And the charge inscribed against Him read: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as charge literally means “writing.” Here this word refers to the “writing” that was inscribed on a sign. The Romans had the custom of attaching a sign to the cross. On the sign someone wrote the crime for which the person was being punished.

In some languages, it may be helpful to first say something about the sign and where it was attached. (For example, Matthew 27:37 says that the sign was put over Jesus’ head.) You may want to do this before you give the words that were written on it. For example:

There was a sign with this charge against Jesus written on it: (New Century Version)
-or-
A signboard was fastened to the cross above Jesus’ head, announcing the charge against him. (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)
-or-
The soldiers attached a sign to the cross. It stated the charge against Jesus:

the charge…against Him: The phrase the charge…against Him here means “what he/Jesus was accused of doing wrong.” It refers to the type of crime for which he was being punished. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah and king. This was considered an act of rebellion against Rome.

Here are some other ways you could translate the charge…against Him:

the crime that he had done
-or-
what he was accused of doing wrong
-or-
what bad/wrong thing that they believed that he had done
-or-
why he was nailed there (Contemporary English Version)

You may want to include a footnote to explain why Jesus’ claim to be king was a crime against Rome. For example:

The Romans had one supreme ruler who was called Caesar. Caesar appointed or allowed kings to rule over certain provinces under his authority. A claim to be king without Caesar’s permission would be interpreted as rebellion against Rome.

read: The word read here introduces what was written on the sign.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

the sign said:
-or-
the charge/crime was:
-or-
on the sign these words were written:

15:26b

THE KING OF THE JEWS: See how you translated this phrase at 15:2a. If it is better in your language to express this as a complete sentence, you could say:

This person/man is the king of the Jews.

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