Matthew now focuses in verses 20-23 upon the dialogue which took place between Pilate and the crowd who wanted to have Jesus put to death. It is significant that Matthew enlarges the leaders of the crowd to include the chief priests and the elders in contrast with Mark’s “the chief priests” only (15.11). By so doing he makes the leadership of the entire nation guilty of Jesus’ execution. Moreover he strengthens the account in at least three other ways, all of which come to light in this verse: (1) “stirred up” of the Marcan account is replaced with persuaded; (2) the plural form of people is substituted for “crowd” of Mark; and (3) following to ask for Barabbas he includes destroy Jesus, which is not found in the Marcan parallel.

In the translation of this verse it may be advisable to begin with a transitional marker as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch: “In the meanwhile.”

To ask for Barabbas clearly means “to ask … to set Barabbas free” (Good News Translation). Moreover to … destroy Jesus is definitely causative, as Good News Translation indicates: “have Jesus put to death.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .