What Does Mark 15:25 Mean in the King James?
And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
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 marked hour and active verb keep this scene concrete: unnamed people carry out an execution on Jesus, rather than presenting “the cross” as an idea.
THE MEANING
The verse keeps a brutal act in view now: at a named hour, people crucify Jesus. Here, “the cross” is an execution carried out on a person, not a detached symbol. The sentence offers no defense or explanation; it leaves the violence exposed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the cross is only a clean religious symbol, with the execution safely out of sight.
THE ROOT
ἐσταύρωσαν
estaurōsan
GROWS FROM
σταυρ-
staur-
Stake or upright post; the related noun σταυρός (stauros) means a stake or cross used for execution.
The Greek form ἐσταύρωσαν (estaurōsan, “they crucified”) is an active plural verb, though the people are left unnamed in this line. It comes from σταυρόω (stauroō, “crucify”), built on σταυρός (stauros, “stake” or “cross”): the instrument remains inside the action, so the word names an execution rather than suffering in the abstract.
ALSO GROWS
stauros: Stake; cross used for execution.
σταυρός
The noun names the instrument carried inside the verb “crucified,” keeping the act physical and specific.
systauroō: Crucify with; crucify alongside.
συσταυρόω
This compound carries the same execution word into the phrase “crucified with,” showing that the root remains tied to crucifixion even when the wording extends beyond this scene.
THE PATTERN
Scripture keeps suffering visible through bodily harm and human action, rather than leaving it abstract.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:THE THREAD
And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.Matthew uses the same verb’s root, σταυρόω (stauroō, “crucify”), and immediately names the division of Jesus’s garments. That detail keeps the execution attached to an exposed body and its dispossession, opening Mark’s marked hour into a fuller scene.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
You can read any verse this way in the app, keep it as a card, and send it on.
A Bible app where you send verses from your keyboard and in Messages, and every verse has a Deep Dive.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us
