They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee.
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Commentary
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Gill's Exposition
They answered and said unto him,.... Offended at the question put to them, and filled with indignation that they should be so interrogated, with an air of haughtiness and insolence reply to him:
if…
Barnes' Notes
If he were not a malefactor - A violator of the law. If we had not determined that he was such, and was worthy of death, Mat 26:66. From this it appears that they did not deliver him up to be tried,…
Adam Clarke
If he were not a malefactor - So they did not wish to make Pilate the judge, but the executor of the sentence which they had already illegally passed.
We have here an account of Christ's arraignment before Pilate, the Roman governor, in the praetorium (a Latin word made Greek), the praetor's house, or hall of judgment; thither they hurried him, to…
Cambridge Bible
a malefactor Literally, -doing evil" or an evil-doer; not the same expression as Luk 23:32. The Jews are taken aback at Pilate's evident intention of trying the case himself. They had expected him…
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