15:30

come down from the cross and save Yourself!”: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as come down means “descend.” Jesus was hanging above the ground on the cross.

The two clauses come down from the cross and save Yourself describe the same action. They are not two different actions. The action come down from the cross is more specifically what Jesus might do to save himself. Here are some other ways to express this:

…come down from the cross and so save yourself!
-or-
…save yourself by coming down from the cross!
-or-
…save yourself; that is, descend from the cross!

save: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as save means to rescue someone from danger or trouble. In this context it means that Jesus should rescue himself from staying fastened to the cross and from death. It does not refer here to rescuing someone from the spiritual dangers of sin and the punishment that results from sin.

General Comment on 15:30

The order of this verse in Greek is literally: “save yourself coming down from the cross.” Some English versions, such as the Berean Standard Bible, have changed the order and placed “come down” before “save yourself.” Follow the order that is most natural in your language.

© 2008 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.