What Does Matthew 27:26 Mean?
Then he released Barabbas for them, and after he had whipped Jesus, he handed him over to 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
Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.THE KEY
The verse makes release and handover one scene: Barabbas goes free as Jesus is given over to bodily violence.
THE MEANING
Barabbas, Βαραββᾶς (Barabbas), a name commonly understood from Aramaic בר אבא (bar ʾabbā, “son of the father”), is free while Jesus is scourged and handed over to crucifixion. The sentence holds those outcomes together, so release does not make the violence disappear. It speaks now wherever one person’s freedom stands beside another person bearing harm.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the lie that release is always costless: here Barabbas is freed while Jesus is scourged and handed over to crucifixion.
THE ROOT
ἀπέλυσεν
apelysen
GROWS FROM
λύω
To loose or unbind; by extension, to release.
Matthew’s word for “released” belongs to the Greek family of λύω (lyō), “to loose.” The English “released” and “delivered” can sound alike, but the Greek sets λύω beside a different root for Jesus being handed over, making the contrast sharper.
ALSO GROWS
lysis: A loosening, release, or dissolution.
λύσις
It keeps the physical image of loosening that lies beneath the release given to Barabbas.
apolysis: Release, dismissal, or divorce.
ἀπόλυσις
This noun from the same verb family shows release as a setting loose from a prior bond or claim.
παρέδωκεν
paredōken
GROWS FROM
δίδωμι
To give or grant; in compounds, to hand or give over.
“handed him over” in this verse is paredōken. παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), the verb behind “delivered,” is formed with δίδωμι (didōmi), “to give.” Here the giving over is concrete: Jesus is placed into others’ power, and the scourging and crucifixion name what follows.
ALSO GROWS
dosis: Giving or a gift.
δόσις
This noun shares the give-family and keeps the act of handing something across visible in the verse’s “delivered.”
dōron: A gift or offering.
δῶρον
It belongs to the same Greek give-family, showing the wider reach of δίδωμι behind the handover verb.
THE PATTERN
Scripture places deliverance beside the suffering or loss borne by another.
But he was pierced for our rebellion, and crushed for our crookedness. The straightening that made us whole was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed.Who was handed over for our stumbles, and raised for our alignment.Who gave himself for our shortcomings, so that he might bring us out of this present evil age, according to the will of God and our Father.THE THREAD
Who was handed over for our stumbles, and raised for our alignment.“Delivered” in Matthew and Romans translates forms of the same Greek verb, παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi), “to hand over.” Romans adds the raising to the handover, extending Matthew’s stark scene while leaving its violence in view.
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