Came translates the imperfect tense in Greek, which focuses on the repetition of the action. For this reason New American Bible has “Repeatedly they came” and Jerusalem Bible “They kept coming up.” New English Bible translates “Then time after time they came.”

Long live (many translations “hail”) translates a greeting of well wishing used in addressing the Emperor. Here again Jesus is referred to as the King of the Jews. But it would be a mistake to attempt a literal translation of Long live the King of the Jews! It is a highly specific idiom, well known in English, but not easily adapted to other languages. The closest equivalent may be, “May you, the King of the Jews, be prosperous!” or “May you, as the King of the Jews, rule forever!” or, in some languages, “May you, the King of the Jews, conquer all your enemies!” or “King of the Jews, may your right arm always be strong!” All such expressions are simply idiomatic ways of acclaiming a ruler.

And they went up and slapped him is more literally “and they were slapping him.” The verb slapped, like the verb came, is in the imperfect tense in Greek and indicates repetitive action. Although Good News Translation begins a new sentence with these words, it is possible to take all of verse 3 as one sentence: “And they kept coming up to him, slapping him, and saying ‘Long live the King of the Jews!’ ” As noted in connection with 18.22, it may be necessary to indicate where the soldiers slapped Jesus. Presumably it was on the face.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .