St Luke 23: 33-43
Jesus crucified with two thieves
23:33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
23:34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing.
23:35 And the people stood by watching, but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!”
23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine
23:37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
23:38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
23:39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”
23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?
23:41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
23:42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”
23:43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
[33] Καὶ ὅτε ἀπῆλθον ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον Κρανίον, ἐκεῖ ἐσταύρωσαν αὐτὸν καὶ τοὺς κακούργους, ὃν μὲν ἐκ δεξιῶν ὃν δὲ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν.
[34] ὁ δὲ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἔλεγε· πάτερ, ἄφες αὐτοῖς· οὐ γὰρ οἴδασι τί ποιοῦσι. διαμεριζόμενοι δὲ τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ ἔβαλλον κλῆρον.
[35] καὶ εἱστήκει ὁ λαὸς θεωρῶν. ἐξεμυκτήριζον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες σὺν αὐτοῖς λέγοντες· ἄλλους ἔσωσε, σωσάτω ἑαυτόν, εἰ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐκλεκτός.
[36] ἐνέπαιζον δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται προσερχόμενοι καὶ ὄξος προσφέροντες αὐτῷ
[37] καὶ λέγοντες· εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων, σῶσον σεαυτόν.
[38] ῏Ην δὲ καὶ ἐπιγραφὴ γεγραμμένη ἐπ᾿ αὐτῷ γράμμασιν ῾Ελληνικοῖς καὶ ῾Ρωμαϊκοῖς καὶ ῾Εβραϊκοῖς· οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων.
[39] Εἷς δὲ τῶν κρεμασθέντων κακούργων ἐβλασφήμει αὐτὸν λέγων· εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστός, σῶσον σεαυτὸν καὶ ἡμᾶς.
[40] ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ ἕτερος ἐπετίμα αὐτῷ λέγων· οὐδὲ φοβῇ σὺ τὸν Θεόν, ὅτι ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ κρίματι εἶ;
[41] καὶ ἡμεῖς μὲν δικαίως· ἄξια γὰρ ὧν ἐπράξαμεν ἀπολαμβάνομεν· οὗτος δὲ οὐδὲν ἄτοπον ἔπραξε.
[42] καὶ ἔλεγε τῷ ᾿Ιησοῦ· μνήσθητί μου, Κύριε, ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου.
[43] καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς· ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, σήμερον μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ.
Comments
[35] ἐξεμυκτήριζον: sc. αὐτόν, ‘him’ (Jesus); ἐκμυκτηρίζω, ‘I mock at someone’ or better (and lit.) ‘I turn up my nose at someone’, c. acc. pers.; it is an LXX vb, Ps. 2:4, 21:8 (Muraoka s.v.). The simplex form μυκτηρίζω is used more freq. in LXX (see Muraoka). Μυκτήρ, ὁ, ‘nostril’.
καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες: the implication of καὶ is either ‘also’ (the chiefs along with the people sneered) or, likelier, ‘in fact’ (the chiefs in fact sneered, but not the people); so Trembelas ad loc.
[36] ἐνέπαιζον δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται: ἐμπαίζω c. dat., ‘I mock at someone or something, mock’ (cl. Gk (LSJ s.v., I.1) and LXX (Muraoka s.v.), e.g., Gen. 39:14, 17, etc. The force of καὶ here may be ‘even’ (‘even the soldiers’; so Fitzmeyer, p. 1505 ad loc.). The παίζω component of the vb ἐνέπαιζον may suggest a ludic disposition. Ιf so, the playfulness of the soldiers is sinister and twisted.
[37] εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων: the personal pronoun σὺ, ‘you’ (sg.) is emphatic: ‘If YOU are the king of the Jews…’ Syntax does not require it. The soldiers have rephrased, in the 2nd pers. sg., the text of the inscription (titulus) that will be quoted in the next verse.
[38] ῏Ην δὲ καὶ: the force of the conj. καὶ is climactic, in effect ‘not only this, but to make the taunting worse, there was an inscription’ (so Trembelas ad loc.)
οὗτός ἐστιν: St Luke quotes the inscription verbatim. The demonstrative pron. οὗτος can be denigrative (‘this scoundrel’) but also deictic, pointing to the person to whom it is attached. In the latter instance, the pronoun points an accusatory finger and simultaneously serves as a warning to would-be challengers of Rome. (Wolter, p. 527 ad loc. suggests that οὗτος here is the predicate noun or comment, while ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ᾿Ιουδαίων is the subject, but this, in my view, is not certain.)
[39] ἐβλασφήμει αὐτὸν: the vb βλασφημέω carries volumes of intense emotion: ‘speak irreverently/ impiously of or about’ (Danker- Bauer, 3rd edn, s.v., b ε).
[41] ἡμεῖς μὲν: emphatic, answered by οὗτος δὲ. Now, deictic ‘this man’ is highly sympathetic and contrastive (δὲ).
ἀπολαμβάνομεν: ἀπολαμβάνω, ‘I receive what is my due’, e.g., my wage (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., I.2). This usage fits the context better than the meaning of the vb in LXX, ‘receive, am given’ (Muraoka s.v., 2).
ἄτοπον: in cl. Gk the adj. ἄτοπος can mean ‘foul, monstrous’ (LSJ s.v., I.3); in LXX the meaning is already different: ‘morally wrong’, esp. of deeds (Muraoka s.v.).
[42] ὅταν ἔλθῃς ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου: in cl. Gk, the prep. phrase εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν σου would have been used with the vb of motion.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 