And when Pilate Heard this Saying, He Took Jesus Out...

The Diatessaron of Tatian — Rev. Hope W. Hogg, B.D.

[1] [Arabic, p.192] [3533] And when Pilate heard this saying, he took Jesus out, and sat on the tribune in the place which was called the pavement of stones, but in the Hebrew [2] called Gabbatha. [3534] And that day was the Friday of the passover: and it had reached [3] about the sixth hour. [3535] [3536] And he said to the Jews, Behold, your King! And they cried out, Take him, take him, crucify him, crucify him. Pilate said unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests said unto him, We have no king except [4] Cæsar. [3537] And Pilate, when he saw it, and [3538] he was gaining nothing, but the tumult was increasing, took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, and said, I [5] am innocent of the blood of this innocent man: ye shall know. [3539] [3540] And all the people [6] answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. [3541] Then Pilate commanded to grant them their request; and delivered up Jesus to be crucified, according to their wish.

[7] [3542] Then Judas the betrayer, when he saw Jesus wronged, went and returned the [8] thirty pieces of money to the chief priests and the elders, [3543] and said, I have sinned in my betraying innocent blood. And they said unto him, And we, what must we do? [9] know thou. [3544] And he threw down the money in the temple, and departed; and he [10] went away [3545] and hanged [3546] himself. [3547] And the chief priests took the money, and said, We have not authority to cast it into the place of the offering, [3548] for it is the price [11] of blood. [3549] And they took counsel, and bought with it the plain of the potter, for [12] the burial of strangers. [3550] Therefore that plain was called, The field of blood, unto [13] [Arabic, p.193] this day. [3551] Therein [3552] was fulfilled the saying in the prophet which said, I took thirty pieces of money, the price of the precious one, which was fixed [14] by the children of Israel; [3553] and I paid them for the plain of the potter, as the Lord commanded me.

[15] [3554] And the Jews took Jesus, and went away to crucify him. [3555] And when he bare his [16] cross and went out, they stripped him of those purple and scarlet garments which he [17] had on, and put on him his own garments. [3556] And while they were going with him, they found a man, a Cyrenian, coming from the country, named Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus: [3557] and they compelled this man to bear the cross of Jesus. [18] [3558] And they took the cross and laid it upon him, that he might bear it, and come after Jesus; and Jesus went, and his cross behind him.

[19] [3559] And there followed him much people, and women which were lamenting and [20] raving. [3560] [3561] But Jesus turned unto them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not [21] for me: weep for yourselves, and for your children. [3562] Days are coming, when they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that bare not, and the breasts [22] that gave not suck. [3563] Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and [23] to the hills, Cover us. [3564] For if they do so in the green tree, [3565] what shall be in the dry?

[24] [3566] And they brought with Jesus two others of the malefactors, [3567] to be put to death.

[25] [3568] And when they came unto a certain place called The skull, and called in the Hebrew Golgotha, they crucified him there: [3569] they crucified with him these two [26] malefactors, one on his right, and the other on his left. [3570] And the scripture was [27] [Arabic, p.194] fulfilled, which saith, He was numbered with the transgressors. [3571] And they gave him to drink wine and myrrh, and vinegar which had been mixed with the myrrh; [3572] and he tasted, and would not drink; and he received it not.

[28] [3573] And the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and cast lots for them in four parts, to every party of the soldiers a part; and his tunic was [29] without sewing, from the top woven throughout. [3574] And they said one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: and the scripture was fulfilled, which saith,

They divided my garments among them,

And cast the lot for my vesture.

[30, 31] [3575] This the soldiers did. And they sat and guarded him there. [3576] And Pilate wrote on a tablet the cause of his death, and put it on the wood of the cross above his head. [3577] And there was written upon it thus: This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the [32] Jews. [3578] And this tablet [3579] read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city: and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. [33] [3580] And the chief priests said unto Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, He it is [34] that [3581] said, I am the King of the Jews. [3582] Pilate said unto them, What hath been [35] written hath been written. [3583] [3584] And the people were standing beholding; and they [36] that passed by were reviling [3585] him, and shaking [3586] their heads, and saying, [3587] Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, [3588] save thyself if thou art the Son [37] of God, and come down from the cross. [3589] And in like manner the chief priests and the [Arabic, p.195] scribes and the elders and the Pharisees derided him, and laughed one with [38, 39] another, and said, [3590] The saviour of others cannot save himself. [3591] If he is the Messiah, the chosen of God, and the King of Israel, [3592] let him come down now from the [40] cross, that we may see, and believe in him. [3593] He that relieth on God -- let him deliver him [41] now, if he is pleased with him: for he said, I am the Son of God. [3594] And the soldiers [42] also scoffed at him in that they came near unto him, [3595] and brought him vinegar, and [43] said unto him, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself. [3596] And likewise the two robbers [3597] also that were crucified with him reproached him.

[44] [3598] And one of those two malefactors who were crucified with him reviled him, and [45] said, If thou art the Messiah, save thyself, and save us also. [3599] But his comrade rebuked him, and said, Dost thou not even fear God, being thyself also in this [46] condemnation? [3600] And we with justice, and as we deserved, and according to our deed, [3601] have we been rewarded: but this man hath not done anything unlawful. [47] [3602] And he said unto Jesus, Remember me, my Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom. [48] [3603] Jesus said unto him, Verily [3604] I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

[49] [3605] And there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, [3606] [50] Mary [3607] that was related to Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. [3608] And Jesus saw his mother, and that disciple whom he loved standing by; and he said to his mother, [51] Woman, behold, thy son! [3609] And he said to that disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto himself.

[52] [Arabic, p.196] [3610] And from the sixth hour [3611] darkness was on all the land unto the ninth [53] hour, [3612] and the sun became dark. [3613] And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and said, Yail, Yaili, [3614] why hast thou forsaken me? which [3615] is, My [54] God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? [3616] And some of those that stood there, when they heard, said, [3617] This man called Elijah.

Footnotes:

[3533] John 19:13.

[3534] John 19:14.

[3535] Lit. six hours.

[3536] John 19:15.

[3537] Matthew 27:24.

[3538] Or, that.

[3539] cf. Peshitta. Or, Ye know (cf. Sinaitic).

[3540] Matthew 27:25.

[3541] John 19:16a.

[3542] Matthew 27:3.

[3543] Matthew 27:4.

[3544] Matthew 27:5.

[3545] Borg. ms. omits and he went away.

[3546] Lit. strangled.

[3547] Matthew 27:6.

[3548] cf. 32, 15, note.

[3549] Matthew 27:7.

[3550] Matthew 27:8.

[3551] Matthew 27:9.

[3552] Or, at that (time).

[3553] Matthew 27:10.

[3554] John 19:16b; Mark 15:20b.

[3555] John 19:17a; Matthew 27:31b.

[3556] Matthew 27:32a; Mark 15:21b.

[3557] Matthew 27:32b.

[3558] Luke 23:26b.

[3559] Luke 23:27.

[3560] Lit. being burned. The text is probably corrupt.

[3561] Luke 23:28.

[3562] Luke 23:29.

[3563] Luke 23:30.

[3564] Luke 23:31.

[3565] Lit. wood (cf. Syr. and Greek).

[3566] Luke 23:32.

[3567] Or, others, malefactors.

[3568] Luke 23:33a; John 19.

[3569] Luke 23:33b.

[3570] Mark 15:28.

[3571] Mark 15:23a.

[3572] Matthew 27:34b; Mark 15:23b.

[3573] John 19:23.

[3574] John 19:24.

[3575] Matthew 27:36.

[3576] John 19:19.

[3577] Matthew 27:37.

[3578] John 19:20.

[3579] A different word from that in the preceding verse; in each case, the word used in the Peshitta (Cur. and Sin. lacking).

[3580] John 19:21.

[3581] The Syriac words, retained in Ibn-at-Tayyib's Commentary (f. 366a), seem to have been transposed. Vat. ms. omits he, probably meaning but that he said.

[3582] John 19:22.

[3583] In a carelessly written Arabic ms. there is almost no difference between hath been written and I have written, as it is in Ibn-at-Tayyib (loc. cit., f. 366a).

[3584] Luke 23:35a; Matthew 27:39.

[3585] cf. 7, 17, note. Borg. ms. has jesting at.

[3586] The Arabic text has deriding (cf. 51, 37). Either with is accidentally omitted, or, more probably, we should correct the spelling to shaking (cf. Syriac versions).

[3587] Matthew 27:40a; Mark 15:29.

[3588] Matthew 27.

[3589] Matthew 27:41.

[3590] Matthew 27:42a.

[3591] Luke 23. Matthew 27.

[3592] Verse 37 or Mt.

[3593] Matthew 27:43.

[3594] Luke 23:36.

[3595] Luke 23:37.

[3596] Matthew 27:44.

[3597] Borg. ms. has boys (an easy clerical error).

[3598] Luke 23:39.