What Does Mark 15:13 Mean?

And they shrieked again, Crucify him!

Mark 15:13 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And they cried out again, Crucify him.

THE KEY

The Greek command carries the cross in its own stem, turning the crowd’s renewed cry into an explicit demand for Jesus’ execution.

THE MEANING

Here, the crowd’s cry is a repeated command for Jesus to be crucified. The word “again” makes the demand persistent: the voices press toward an execution.

THE ROOT

σταύρωσον

staurōson

GROWS FROM

σταυρ-

staur-

Cross or upright stake; the verb built from this stem means to crucify.

“Crucify him” in this verse is staurōson. The Greek imperative carries the staur- stem of the cross inside the command. Its word family keeps the cross and the act of crucifying joined, so the crowd is demanding a specific execution, not simply expressing rejection.

ALSO GROWS

staurós: cross; upright stake

σταυρός

This noun shares the command’s stem and names the instrument the crowd demands.

systauroō: crucify together with

συσταυρόω

The added syn- (“with”) shows the same stem in Galatians 2:20, where the speaker says, “I am crucified with Christ.”

THE PATTERN

A united voice can turn opposition to the anointed into a public demand for their removal.

The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers sit down together against the LORD and against his anointed one, saying,

Psalm 2:2 · SDVThe rulers unite against the anointed, showing collective opposition before Mark’s crowd makes its demand.

But they shouted, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.

Luke 23:21 · SDVThe repeated cry makes crucifixion a collective refrain.

For in truth, in this city, against your set-apart servant Jesus, whom you anointed, Herod and Pontius Pilate were gathered together with the nations and the peoples of Israel,

Acts 4:27 · SDVRulers and people gather against Jesus, showing opposition joined across ranks.

THE THREAD

I have been crucified with the Anointed One, and I live, yet no longer I; the Anointed One lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live in the trust of the Son of God, who loved me and handed himself over for me.

Galatians 2:20 · SDV

Both verbs carry the Greek staur- (“cross”) stem: Mark has staurōson, “crucify,” while Galatians has synestaurōmai, “I have been crucified with.” The shared root links the crowd’s literal command against Jesus with Galatians’ figurative language of participation, while their distinct contexts keep the two acts distinct.

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