What Does Matthew 27:23 Mean?
The governor said, Why? What evil has he done? But they cried out all the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
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 governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.THE KEY
The crowd answers a question about wrongdoing with a louder demand for death.
THE MEANING
The question is direct: What harm has he done? No wrongdoing is named in the verse; instead, the demand for execution grows louder. The scene shows how force can occupy the place where evidence should be.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A crowd’s certainty and volume do not prove that the accused has done wrong.
THE ROOT
σταυρωθήτω
staurōthētō
GROWS FROM
σταυρ-
staur-
Stake or upright post; the verb means to crucify.
The crowd’s answer is a passive command: “Let him be crucified.” The wording names the demanded fate, while the verse records no deed offered to answer the governor’s question.
ALSO GROWS
stauros: Stake or cross
σταυρός
The noun names the instrument contained in the verb’s demand.
stauroō: Crucify
σταυρόω
This is the verb family behind the crowd’s command and links it to other verses that use the same word.
περισσῶς
perissōs
GROWS FROM
περισσ-
periss-
Beyond the usual measure; in excess or abundance.
“the more” in this verse is perissōs. The Greek describes their cries as exceedingly intense. The verse marks an increase in volume, not an increase in evidence: the demand grows while the question remains unanswered.
ALSO GROWS
perissos: Excessive, abundant, beyond what is usual
περισσός
Its sense of excess illuminates the crowd’s intensifying response.
perisseuō: Abound, increase
περισσεύω
This related verb carries the same idea of something growing beyond its measure.
κακόν
kakon
GROWS FROM
κακ-
kak-
Bad or harmful.
“evil” in this verse is kakon. The governor asks what harmful thing Jesus has done. The verse records no specific harm in reply, setting the question about conduct beside the crowd’s demand for an execution.
ALSO GROWS
kakos: Bad, evil, harmful
κακός
The adjective gives the basic sense behind the governor’s question.
kakia: Badness, malice, wickedness
κακία
This related noun names harmful intent, sharpening the difference between a charge of wrongdoing and an unreasoned demand.
THE PATTERN
When judgment is pressed by a crowd, volume can outrun the reasons justice requires.
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.The aligned one at the head of his own contention seems straight, but his neighbor comes and searches him out.Some therefore cried one thing, and some another, for the assembly was poured together, and most did not know why they had come together.THE THREAD
When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him there. Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves, and crucify him, for I find no cause in him.The command translated “crucify” comes from the same Greek verb, σταυρόω (stauroō), in both verses. John makes the tension explicit: the demand is repeated even as Pilate says he finds no fault in Jesus, leaving the question of what evil he has done unanswered.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us