Translation commentary on Mark 15:15

Exegesis:

boulomenos (only here in Mark) ‘desiring,’ ‘wishing,’ ‘wanting.’

to hikanon poiēsai is a Latinism, satisfacere, ‘satisfy.’

phragellōsas (only here in Mark) ‘having flogged,’ ‘having scourged’ (cf. Latin flagellare). The aorist participle here indicates action antecedent to that of the main verb paredōken ‘he delivered.’ The word should not be translated in such a way as to imply that Pilate personally flogged Jesus: instead of ‘having scourged Jesus’ (cf. Goodspeed). This flogging, or scourging, was extremely severe, inflicted only on slaves or provincials, never on Roman citizens, and applied to those who were condemned to death (cf. Swete).

Translation:

Satisfy the crowd may be translated as ‘make the crowd happy’ or ‘give the crowd what they wanted.’

For released see Mark 15.6.

Scourged Jesus is better rendered in many languages ‘caused Jesus to be whipped’ or ‘caused Jesus to be beaten with whips.’

Delivered him to be crucified is a highly condensed expression, requiring some more specific identification of participants and events in some languages, e.g. ‘handed Jesus over to the soldiers in order that they would nail him to a cross.’ In many languages one can not ‘hand a person over’ without specifying to whom. Moreover, the following expression of ‘crucify’ may require an identified grammatical subject.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on Mark 15:15

15:15a

And wishing to satisfy the crowd: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And wishing to satisfy the crowd means “Because Pilate wanted to satisfy/please the crowd.” This clause gives the reason for what Pilate did in the next part of this verse.

Here is another way to translate this:

Pilate wanted to make the crowd happy, and so…

15:15b

Pilate released Barabbas to them: The clause Pilate released Barabbas to them means “Pilate freed Barabbas from prison for them.”

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Pilate freed Barabbas as a favor to them.
-or-
Pilate set Barabbas free from prison as they had requested.

15:15c

But he had Jesus flogged: The clause But he had Jesus flogged means that Pilate ordered other people (probably soldiers) to flog/whip Jesus.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

Pilate ordered some soldiers to beat Jesus with whips.

flogged: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as flogged also means “scourged,” “beat,” “whipped,” or “lashed.” According to Roman custom, the prisoner was beat with a whip made of several leather strips attached to a wooden handle. Often the strips had pieces of metal or bone attached to them to cause greater pain.

Use whatever word or phrase in your language that best describes this type of beating.

15:15d

and handed Him over to be crucified: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the English idiom handed…over means “delivered into the power of someone else” or simply “gave.” This means that Pilate gave Jesus to the soldiers and told them to take Jesus away to crucify him. This is the same verb as in 15:1d and 15:10.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

and gave Jesus to the soldiers to take Jesus away to crucify him
-or-
then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified (New Living Translation)

crucified: See how you translated “crucify” in 15:13.

General Comment on 15:15c–d

If you have mentioned the word “soldiers” in 15:15c, it may be more natural to include the verb “handed over” in 15:15c rather than in 15:15d. Or it may be natural to leave this verb implicit. For example:

15cPilate handed Jesus over to some soldiers and ordered them to whip him 15dand then take him away and crucify him.
-or-
15cThen he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip 15dand nail him to a cross. (Contemporary English Version)

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