What Does Mark 15:14 Mean?
Then Pilate said to them, Why, what evil has he done? But they shrieked all the more beyond measure, Crucify him!
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
Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.THE KEY
The crowd’s answer to “What evil?” is excess: it intensifies the demand instead of naming a deed.
THE MEANING
Pilate asks what wrong Jesus has done, but the crowd names no deed; it only grows louder in demanding his crucifixion. The gap remains visible now: pressure can intensify without producing a reason.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a louder demand proves a clearer charge: Pilate asks what wrong Jesus has done, and the answer is only a louder cry for crucifixion.
THE ROOT
περισσῶς
perissōs
GROWS FROM
περισσ-
periss-
beyond the usual measure; excessive, abundant
The word marks an escalation beyond measure: the cry does not answer Pilate’s question but overwhelms it with force. Its word family also carries the sense of abundance, showing the demand swelling where a reason ought to appear.
ALSO GROWS
perisseuō: to abound, overflow
περισσεύω
Its sense of increase echoes the crowd’s growing insistence.
perissoteros: greater, more abundant
περισσότερος
This comparative form makes the movement toward “more” explicit.
κακόν
kakon
GROWS FROM
κακ-
kak-
bad, harmful, wrong
“evil” in this verse is kakon. Kakon names something bad or harmful, but leaves the kind of wrong open; Pilate asks for a deed and receives none. The broad word makes the unanswered space in the exchange stand out: the execution demand does not identify what Jesus has done.
ALSO GROWS
kakia: evil, malice
κακία
This branch names harmful intent, but the crowd offers no such specific charge.
kakopoios: evildoer; one who does wrong
κακοποιός
This branch points toward a person who does harm, while Pilate’s question asks what harm Jesus has done.
THE PATTERN
When a demand for punishment grows louder than the case against someone, judgment bends under pressure.
You shall not go after the crowd to do harm. Nor shall you answer in a dispute, turning aside after the crowd, to bend judgment.He who aligns the wicked, and he who convicts the aligned one, both are loathed by the LORD.But you turned away from the Set-Apart One and the Aligned One, and you asked for a man of blood to be given to you as favor.THE THREAD
The governor said, Why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, saying, Let him be crucified.Matthew repeats the same Greek word for “evil,” kakon, and preserves the same unanswered question. Across both accounts, the demand for crucifixion grows while no harmful deed is named.
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