15:19a–c

The form of the Greek verbs in this verse (“struck,” “spit,” and “paid homage”) indicates repeated action. Probably many different soldiers did each of these things. Translate this verse in a natural way in your language that indicates that all of these actions were done many times. Here are some ways to do this in English:

Again and again (New International Version)
-or-
kept beating…and spitting…and kneeling and bowing (New American Standard Bible)
-or-
one after another they struck…spit…and bowed

Some languages may use repetition. For example:

They beat him and beat him on his head…they spit on him and spit on him…

15:19a

They kept striking His head with a staff: This clause indicates that the soldiers took a staff and hit Jesus’ head with it many times.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

They kept hitting him on the head with a stick (God’s Word)
-or-
The soldiers beat Jesus on the head many times with a stick. (New Century Version)

a staff: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as a staff generally refers to a reed. The reeds in Israel are like a stick or cane. They have a hollow stalk similar to bamboo. So this staff was something that was neither solid wood nor a fragile reed that broke easily. To make this clear you may want to translate it as:

a strong/heavy reed
-or-
a cane/stick

15:19b

spitting on Him: In Jewish culture, spitting on a person was one of the worst ways to insult him. It was an attempt to cause him to feel completely worthless. If spitting on someone does not mean this in your culture, you may need to make this explicit:

spitting on him to insult him

We are not told which part of Jesus’ body the soldiers spat on. If you must state a specific body part, you can say his face or his head.

15:19c

And they knelt down: The phrase And they knelt down means that the soldiers purposely got on their knees. They did not stumble and fall by accident. They did this to pretend to honor Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

Falling on their knees (New International Version, 2011 edition)
-or-
bowing on their knees (New Century Version)
-or-
bowed down to him

and bowed before Him: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates with the English idiom bowed here means “bowed down in order to show honor to someone.” This verb is often translate as “worshipped.” In this context it refers to the way people honored kings and emperors. The soldiers mimicked or imitated this action in order to mock Jesus.

Here the soldiers were only pretending to honor Jesus. In some languages it may be necessary to include this implied information. For example:

as though they were honoring him
-or-
to pretend to honor him as king

General Comment on 15:19c

Here Mark described both the posture of the soldiers (kneeling) and the function of that gesture (bowing down). It is possible to have one expression that describes both the posture and function at the same time.

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