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JOHN 19:3 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
John 19:2John 19:4
And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands.
and they kept coming up to him, saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' and striking him on the face — The soldiers' salutation ("Hail") echoes Roman imperial acclamation (Ave Caesar), while they simultaneously strike Jesus—performing adoration and contempt in twisted unity. The iteration ("kept coming up... saying... striking") emphasizes the sustained cruelty, the entertainment soldiers derive from the condemned. Yet the title "king of the Jews," though mockingly intended, remains true.

Church Fathers on John 19:3

When the Jews had cried out that they did not wish Jesus to be released on account of the passover, but Barabbas, Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him. Pilate seems to have done this for no reason but to satisfy the malice of the Jews with some punishment short of death. On which account he allowed his band to do what follows, or perhaps even commanded them. The Evangelist only says however that the soldiers did so, not that Pilate commanded them: And the…

Augustine · 4th century

Pilate having called Him the King of the Jews, they put the royal dress upon Him, in mockery

Chrysostom · 4th century

For instead of a diadem, they put upon Him a crown of thorns, and a purple robe to represent the purple robe which kings wear. Matthew says, a scarlet robe, but scarlet and purple are different names for the same color. And though the soldiers did this in mockery, yet to us their acts have a meaning. For by the crown of thorns is signified the taking of our sins upon Him, the thorns which the earth of our body brings forth. And the purple robe signifies the flesh crucified.…

Bede · 8th century
Read all 7 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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