What Does Mark 15:17 Mean in the King James?
And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The mockery turns a crown that encircles the head in honor into one that encircles it in pain.
THE MEANING
The verse holds humiliation at its most physical: a crown is braided from thorns and pressed around Jesus’ head. A sign of royal honor becomes a means of pain in the hands of those wielding power. The same crown-word elsewhere names life and honor, so the scene exposes the violence behind this display of contempt.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being made to suffer cancels a person’s dignity or authority.
THE ROOT
στέφανον
stephanon
GROWS FROM
στεφ-
steph-
To encircle; a wreath or crown.
The Greek word here is the same one used for the crown of life and for being crowned with glory. Its encircling form holds honor and humiliation together: the crown’s shape remains, while what is done with it changes.
ALSO GROWS
stephanoō: To crown.
στεφανόω
This verb carries the same crown-root into the act of placing a crown, linking the object here to other scenes of crowning.
stephanē: A crown or wreath; also an encircling rim or edge.
στεφάνη
Its sense of an encircling border sharpens the physical image of something fitted around the head.
πλέξαντες
plexantes
GROWS FROM
πλεκ-
plek-
To weave, braid, or plait.
“platted” in this verse is plexantes. The crown is not simply set on Jesus; it is deliberately braided from thorns. The verb makes the violence part of its construction: mockery is woven into the object before it reaches his head.
ALSO GROWS
plektos: Braided or plaited.
πλεκτός
This adjective describes something formed by interweaving, as the thorn crown is.
plegma: A braid, plait, or woven network.
πλέγμα
This noun makes the root’s pattern visible: separate strands are joined into one enclosing structure.
THE PATTERN
A crown can stage contempt in one scene and name bestowed honor, life, or glory in another.
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.THE THREAD
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.James uses the same Greek word, στέφανος (stephanos, “crown”), for the crown of life. Mark shows that a crown can be made into an instrument of contempt; James uses that same word for life that is received.
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