MARK 15:28 Interlinear View

SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 15:21–32: The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross

In this section, Jesus was crucified. This is the climax of the book of Mark. Three times Jesus had predicted these events (8:31, 9:31, and 10:33–34). Now they really happened. Mark has presented Jesus as the Messiah and King who the prophets in the Old Testament predicted would come. By dying on the cross, Jesus did what the Messiah had to do to save his people.

Here are some other possible headings for this section:

The soldiers fastened Jesus to a cross to kill him

Jesus was executed on a cross

The crucifixion of Jesus

There are parallel passages for this section in Matthew 27:32–44, Luke 23:26–43, and John 19:17–27.

15:28

[Most English versions do not translate this verse. See the Notes on 15:28.]

There is a textual issue here. Only some Greek manuscripts include 15:28. It is good to include this verse only as a footnote, as many English versions do. Here is an example footnote:

Only some Greek manuscripts include 15:28, which says: “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘And He was numbered with transgressors.’ ”

If the major language version in your area includes this verse in the text, you may want to include it in brackets. This is what the NASB does.

If you put 15:28 in a footnote, here are several ways to number the verses:

Put the number 28 after the number 27. For example, the CEV says:
^27–28The soldiers also nailed two criminals on crosses, one to the right of Jesus and the other to his left.
Put in the number 28 after the last word of 15:27, and have the footnote marker after it. For example, the NCV says:
²⁷They also put two robbers on crosses beside Jesus, one on the right, and the other on the left. ²⁸ ‡ ²⁹People walked by…
Do not include the number 28. Put the footnote after verse 27. For example, the GW says:
²⁷They crucified two criminals with him, one on his right and the other on his left. ‡ ²⁹Those who passed by insulted him.

Because you may need to translate the words of this verse, consider the following notes. (The words cited below are taken from the footnote that the BSB provides for this verse.)

So the Scripture was fulfilled that says: The clause the Scripture…that says refers to a passage in the Old Testament that Isaiah had written (Isaiah 53:12). The clause the Scripture was fulfilled means that this scripture was a prophecy. It predicted something that would happen in the future, and the event that it prophesied was now happening.

Here are some other ways to translate this clause:

The Scripture became true which says

The Scripture was happening which says

The thing/event that the Scripture said would happen was now happening

the Scripture: Here the Scripture refers to a specific sentence in the Old Testament.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

the sacred writing/word/words

this word that Isaiah wrote in God’s book

this part of God’s word/message

And He: In the passage in Isaiah, He refers to the servant of the Lord. Here the servant of the Lord is identified with Jesus. However, it is important to keep the pronoun in this quotation. Do not translate He here as “Jesus.” The pronoun you use should be able to refer both to Jesus and to the servant of the Lord.

was numbered with the transgressors: The phrase was numbered with the transgressors means “was counted/considered a law-breaker” or “was considered to be of the group of those who broke the law of God.” He was both considered a lawbreaker and, as a result, treated as one. Your translation could focus on either aspect. For example:

He was considered a criminal. (CEV from Luke 22:37)

He was treated like a criminal. (NCV from Luke 22:37)

He shared the fate of criminals. (GNT from Luke 22:37)

If you need to change the passive verb into an active verb, you should use a very general subject. For example:

People/they considered/counted him a law-breaker.

the transgressors: The Greek word here translated as the transgressors means “law-breakers” or “those who break the law of God.”

Here are some other ways to translate this:

those who break the law

those who are not concerned to keep/obey the law of God

criminals

This word is similar in meaning to “sinners.” In some languages it may not be easy to find two terms, one for “sinner” and one for “those who break the law of God.” If that is true in your language, you could use the same term for both.

General Comment on 15:28

Here are some ways to translate this verse:

And the part of the sacred writings that says “He was considered a law-breaker” became true.

This word that Isaiah, the prophet, wrote in God’s book was happening: “He was treated as a criminal.”

God’s word said “People counted him as a law-breaker.” This thing was now happening just as God’s word said that it would.

uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: translate-textvariants

Καὶ ἐπληρώθη ἡ γραφὴ ἡ λέγουσα Καὶ μετὰ ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη

(Kai eplaʸrōthaʸ haʸ grafaʸ haʸ legousa Kai meta anomōn elogisthaʸ)

See the discussion of textual issues at the end of the General Notes to this chapter to decide whether to include this verse in your translation. The notes below discuss translation issues in this verse, for those who decide to include it.

Note 2 topic: writing-quotations

ἐπληρώθη ἡ γραφὴ ἡ λέγουσα

(eplaʸrōthaʸ haʸ grafaʸ haʸ legousa)

Here the author quotes from the Old Testament scriptures, specifically from [Isaiah 53:12](../isa/53/12.md). If it would be helpful to your readers, you could format these words in a different way and include this information in a footnote. Alternate translation: [the passage in Isaiah was fulfilled that says] or [what Isaiah the prophet wrote was fulfilled. He wrote]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

ἐπληρώθη ἡ γραφὴ

(eplaʸrōthaʸ haʸ grafaʸ)

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who did the action, it is clear from the context that it was the soldiers crucifying Jesus with two robbers. Alternate translation: [that fulfilled the scripture] or [when the soldiers crucified those two robbers with Jesus, it fulfilled the scripture]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

Καὶ μετὰ ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη

(Kai meta anomōn elogisthaʸ)

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who did the action, you could use an indefinite subject. Alternate translation: [And they counted him with lawless ones] or [And others counted him with lawless ones]

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)

Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.

Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.

OET interlinear MARK 15:28

SR Greek word order (including unused variant words in grey)

Section 15:21–32: The soldiers nailed Jesus to a cross

15:28

General Comment on 15:28

OET-LV English word order (‘Reverse’ interlinear)