What Does Luke 23:35 Mean?
And the people stood watching. And the rulers with them also turned up their noses at him, saying, He delivered others; let him deliver himself, if he is the Anointed One, the chosen of God.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.THE KEY
The rulers turn “he delivered others” into a taunt because they count only self-rescue as proof of deliverance.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you hear the rulers make deliverance a test: if he is God’s anointed and chosen one, he must rescue himself. They name his deliverance of others, then use his exposure to suffering as evidence against him. Their demand assumes that real deliverance must preserve the deliverer first.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being chosen by God means being spared suffering and proving it through self-rescue. The verse exposes that assumption as the rulers’ test, not the meaning of deliverance.
THE ROOT
σῴζω
sōzō
GROWS FROM
σωζ-
sōz-
Deliver, rescue, or bring safely through danger.
The same verb appears twice: “He delivered others; let him deliver himself.” The taunt grants the first and demands the second, making self-preservation its test of deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
sōtēr: Deliverer; one who brings another through danger.
σωτήρ
This word family names the one who delivers, keeping the focus on those brought through as well as the deliverer.
sōtēria: Deliverance; rescue.
σωτηρία
This noun names the deliverance that the rulers acknowledge in others, then demand for him as self-rescue.
ἐκμυκτηρίζω
ekmyktērizō
GROWS FROM
μυκτηρ
myktēr
Nose or nostril; the base of a gesture of contempt.
“turned up their noses at” in this verse is ekmyktērizō. Behind “derided” is a nose-turning sneer: ἐκμυκτηρίζω (ekmyktērizō, to mock by turning up the nose) keeps contempt bodily. The same verb family appears in the Greek wording of Psalm 22:7, where the KJV says “laugh me to scorn.”
ALSO GROWS
myktēr: Nose or nostril.
μυκτήρ
This is the bodily image inside the sneer translated “derided.”
exemyktērisan: They mocked or turned up their noses.
ἐξεμυκτήρισάν
This form appears in the Greek Psalm 22:7, joining Luke’s derision to the Psalm’s scene of scorn.
Χριστός
Christos
GROWS FROM
χρί-
chri-
Anoint; mark or appoint by anointing.
The title names him as the anointed one, while the taunt turns that identity into a dare to escape. The verse places the title and his exposed body side by side without making the mockers’ test the title’s definition.
ALSO GROWS
chriō: Anoint.
χρίω
This verb is the source of the title used in the rulers’ taunt.
chrisma: Anointing.
χρῖσμα
This noun makes explicit the anointing contained in “the anointed one.”
THE PATTERN
Mockery turns deliverance into a test of self-preservation, demanding that the threatened one escape before anyone will credit deliverance for others.
"Roll onto the LORD; let him slip him free; let him snatch him free, for he delights in him."He delivered others; he cannot deliver himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will lean our weight on him.He who did not spare his own Son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also favor us with all things along with him?THE THREAD
All who see me mock me; they open their lips, they shake the head.The Greek wording of this Psalm uses the same word family as Luke’s “derided”: ἐκμυκτηρίζω (ekmyktērizō, to sneer or mock by turning up the nose). The Psalm’s lip and head gestures make the contempt in Luke’s word visible.
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