Hebrew Latin Greek

John tells us that the inscription “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews” was placed above his head on the cross in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek (19:19-20). But this is just the culmination of a text that, though written in Greek, contains a number of cross-linguistic terms. Twice in chapter 19 John translates a Greek term into Hebrew/Aramic (vv. 13, 17), something he does only two other times in the gospel (5:2; 20:16).

Pilate, meanwhile, goes in and out of the Praetorium (18:28, 33), a Greek word borrowed from Latin, and a central point in debate is whether Caesar is going to be happy with Pilate (19:12).

That Jesus is the King of the Jews is proclaimed in all the relevant languages; that Jesus is crucified by a united humanity is evident in the trial scene as a whole – Pilate in his Praetorium, the Jews concerned for ritual impurity, both are described in John’s Greek.

Next
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Rome and the Church in the United States

George Weigel

Archbishop Michael J. Curley of Baltimore, who confirmed my father, was a pugnacious Irishman with a taste…

Marriage Annulment and False Mercy

Luma Simms

Pope Leo XIV recently told participants in a juridical-pastoral formation course of the Roman Rota that the…

Undercover in Canada’s Lawless Abortion Industry

Jonathon Van Maren

On November 27, 2023, thirty-six-year-old Alissa Golob walked through the doors of the Cabbagetown Women’s Clinic in…