KJV: And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
YLT: and there was one named Barabbas, bound with those making insurrection with him, who had in the insurrection committed murder.
Darby: Now there was the person named Barabbas bound with those who had made insurrection with him, and that had committed murder in the insurrection.
ASV: And there was one called Barabbas, lying bound with them that had made insurrection, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.
ἦν | There was |
Parse: Verb, Imperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular Root: εἰμί Sense: to be, to exist, to happen, to be present. |
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ὁ | the [one] |
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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λεγόμενος | called |
Parse: Verb, Present Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: λέγω Sense: to say, to speak. |
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Βαραββᾶς | Barabbas |
Parse: Noun, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: Βαραββᾶς Sense: the captive robber whom the Jews begged Pilate to release instead of Christ. |
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στασιαστῶν | rebels |
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Plural Root: στασιαστής Sense: a companion in insurrection, a fellow rioter. |
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δεδεμένος | having been bound |
Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Middle or Passive, Nominative Masculine Singular Root: δέω Sense: to bind tie, fasten. |
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στάσει | insurrection |
Parse: Noun, Dative Feminine Singular Root: στάσις Sense: a standing, station, state. |
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φόνον | murder |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular Root: φόνος Sense: murder, slaughter. |
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πεποιήκεισαν | had committed |
Parse: Verb, Pluperfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural Root: ποιέω Sense: to make. |
Greek Commentary for Mark 15:7
A desperate criminal, leader in the insurrection, sedition Barabbas was the leader of these rioters and was bound with them. [source]
Past perfect indicative without augment. Murder usually goes with such rioters and the priests and people actually chose a murderer in preference to Jesus. [source]
Fellow-rioters. But the better texts read στασιαστῶν , rioters, omitting the σύν , with (fellow ): and the Rev. accordingly omits with him. [source]
Denoting a class of criminals. [source]
Note the article: the insurrection for which Barabbas and his fellows had been imprisoned. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Mark 15:7
Pilate was catching at straws or seeking any loophole to escape condemning a harmless lunatic or exponent of a superstitious cult such as he deemed Jesus to be, certainly in no political sense a rival of Caesar. The Jews interpreted “Christ” for Pilate to be a claim to be King of the Jews in opposition to Caesar, “a most unprincipled proceeding” (Bruce). So he bethought him of the time-honoured custom at the passover of releasing to the people “a prisoner whom they wished” No parallel case has been found, but Josephus mentions the custom (Ant. xx. 9, 3). Barabbas was for some reason a popular hero, a notable (επισημον episēmon), if not notorious, prisoner, leader of an insurrection or revolution (Mark 15:7) probably against Rome, and so guilty of the very crime that they tried to fasten on Jesus who only claimed to be king in the spiritual sense of the spiritual kingdom. So Pilate unwittingly pitted against each other two prisoners who represented the antagonistic forces of all time. It is an elliptical structure in the question, “whom do you wish that I release?” (τινα τελετε απολυσω tina thelete apolusō̱), either two questions in one (asyndeton) or the ellipse of ινα hina before απολυσω apolusō See the same idiom in Matthew 27:21. But Pilate‘s question tested the Jews as well as himself. It tests all men today. Some manuscripts add the name Jesus to Barabbas and that makes it all the sharper. Jesus Barabbas or Jesus Christ? [source]
See on Matthew 26:55; see on Mark 11:17; see on Luke 10:30. Matthew calls him a “notable prisoner” (Matthew 27:16). Mark states that he had made insurrection, and had committed murder (Mark 15:7), speaking of the insurrection as a well-known event. Luke says, “for some insurrection ( στάσιν τινὰ ) that had arisen in the city, and for murder” (Luke 23:19). Writing for Gentiles, Luke would not refer to the event as something familiar. Bandits of this kind were numerous in the neighborhood of Jerusalem under the Roman dominion. Their leaders were well known. Josephus describes them by the same word which Matthew uses, ἐπίσημοι , notable. Their depredations were often committed under patriotic pretenses, so that Barabbas might have had influential friends among the people. [source]
Better, as Rev., stirred up to sedition. The rendering of the A. V. is too vague. The verb means to unsettle or upset, and the true idea is given in the A. V. of Acts 17:6, have turned the world upside down. Compare Galatians 5:12, and kindred words in Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19. [source]