John 19

John 19 is the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel. This chapter records the events on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus, until his burial.

The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 42 verses.

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged [Him]. Heinrich Meyer notes that Pilate "caused the scourging to be carried out", but this would have been done by his soldiers. Pilate stated three times (in John 18:39, 19:4 and 19:6) that he found no fault in Jesus. Again, Meyer notes that this contumelious action of the soldiers was undertaken under Pilate's watch. In the New Century Version, "they came to him many times and said ". This additional wording reflects the insertion ἤρχοντο πρὸς αὐτὸν (ērchonto pros auton) in many early texts, but which was missing in the Textus Receptus. Karl Lachmann, Constantin von Tischendorf, Meyer and Westcott and Hort all adopt the additional wording. Cross references: , ; ; .

Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!" "Behold the Man": Ecce homo in Vulgate Latin; in the original , (Ide ho anthrōpos). Meyer reflects that the words are "short [but] significant". "Crucify Him, crucify Him! ": The words of the chief priests and officers in the Received Text are , staurōson, staurōson, meaning "crucify! crucify! ", with the word "him" being implied or added in English texts. The Jews did not possess the right of execution, nor was crucifixion a Jewish form of capital punishment. "No fault": or no crime (Revised Standard Version).

Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.

Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."'"

Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece.

Therefore, because it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Preparation Day was the day before the Passover. Verse 42 refers to this day as "the Jews' Preparation Day". Plummer suggests that "the addition of 'the Jews' may point to the time when there was already a Christian ‘preparation day'". This is the last of a series of texts, commencing from John 13:18: "that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me', in which the evangelist confirms that the events of the passion fulfill the Old Testament scriptures. The quoted passage is b, "then they will look on Me whom they pierced", with the word "me" changed to "him". Lutheran commentator Johann Bengel argues that John quotes this passage "for the sake of its allusion to the piercing [not for that to the looking]".

And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Bengel notes that Nicodemus, who had shown his faith in dialogue with Jesus in chapter 3, here "manifested [it] by an altogether distinguished work of love".