John 19:22

English Revised Version

Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”

King James Version (1611)
Pilate answered, What I haue written, I haue written.

King James Version
Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

English Standard Version
Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

New American Standard Bible
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

New Century Version
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Amplified Bible
Pilate replied, "What I have written I have written [and it remains written]."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

Legacy Standard Bible
Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

Berean Standard Bible
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Contemporary English Version
But Pilate told them, "What is written will not be changed!"

Complete Jewish Bible
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Darby Translation
Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

Easy-to-Read Version
Pilate answered, "I will not change what I have written."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Pilate answered, What I haue written, I haue written.

George Lamsa Translation
Pilate said, What I have written, I have written.

Good News Translation
Pilate answered, "What I have written stays written."

Lexham English Bible
Pilate replied, "What I have written, I have written."

Literal Translation
Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

American Standard Version
Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

Bible in Basic English
But Pilate made answer, What I have put in writing will not be changed.

Hebrew Names Version
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

International Standard Version
Pilate replied, "What I have written I have written."

Etheridge Translation
Pilatos saith, That which I have written, I have written.

Murdock Translation
Pilate said: What I have written, I have written.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Pilate aunswered: What I haue written, that haue I written.

World English Bible
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

Weymouth's New Testament
"What I have written I have written," was Pilate's answer.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Pilat answeride, That that Y haue writun, Y haue writun.

Update Bible Version
Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.

Webster's Bible Translation
Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.

New English Translation
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

New King James Version
Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

New Living Translation
Pilate replied, "No, what I have written, I have written."

New Life Bible
Pilate said, "What I have written is to stay just as it is!"

New Revised Standard
Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Pilate answered - What I have written, I have written!

Douay-Rheims Bible
Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written.

Revised Standard Version
Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Pylate answered: what I have written that have I written.

Young's Literal Translation
Pilate answered, `What I have written, I have written.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Pilate answered: What I haue wrytten, that haue I wrytten.

Mace New Testament (1729)
Pilate answered, what I have writ, I have writ.

THE MESSAGE
Pilate said, "What I've written, I've written."

Simplified Cowboy Version
But Pilate replied, "What's written is written."

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ And Pilate wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰ This title therefore read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, that he said, I am King of the Jews. ²² Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. ²³ The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also the coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. ²⁴ They said therefore one to another, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my garments among them, And upon my vesture did they cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. ²⁵ But there were standing by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold, thy son! ²⁷ Then saith he to the disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour the disciple took her unto his own home. ²⁸ After this Jesus, knowing that all things are now finished, that the scripture might be accomplished, saith, I thirst.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: John 19:12, Psalms 65:7, Psalms 76:10, Proverbs 8:29

Reciprocal: John 18:38 - I find

Cross-References

Genesis 13:10
And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar.

Genesis 14:2
that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).

Genesis 19:1
And the two angels came to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth;

Genesis 19:10
But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door.

Genesis 19:25
and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Genesis 19:28
and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.

Exodus 32:10
now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

Deuteronomy 9:14
let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they.

Isaiah 15:5
My heart crieth out for Moab; her nobles flee unto Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah: for by the ascent of Luhith with weeping they go up; for in the way of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.

Isaiah 65:8
Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Pilate answered, what I have written I have written,.... He seems to say this, as one angry and displeased with them; either because they would not consent to release Jesus, which he was desirous of, but pressed him so very hard to crucify him; or at their insolence, in directing him in what form to put the superscription, which he determines shall stand unaltered, as he had wrote it. This he said, either because he could not alter it after it was written, for it is said w, that

"a proconsul's table is his sentence, which being once read, not one letter can either be increased or diminished; but as it is recited, so it is related in the instrument of the province;''

or if he could have altered it, he was not suffered by God to do it; but was so directed, and over ruled by divine providence, as to write, so to persist in, and abide by what he had wrote inviolably; which is the sense of his words. Dr. Lightfoot has given several instances out of the Talmud, showing that this is a common way of speaking with the Rabbins; and that words thus doubled signify that what is spoken of stands good, and is irrevocable: so a widow taking any of the moveable goods of her husband deceased for her maintenance, it is said x, מה שתפסה תפסה, "what she takes, she takes"; that is, she may lawfully do it, and retain it: it continues in her hands, and cannot be taken away from her; and so the gloss explains it, "they do not take it from her"; and in the same way Maimonides y interprets it: so of a man that binds himself to offer an oblation one way, and he offers it another way, שהביא הביא

מה, "what he has offered, he has offered z"; what he has offered is right, it stands good, and is not to be rejected: and again, among the rites used by a deceased brother's wife, towards him that refuses to marry her, if one thing is done before the other, it matters not, מה שעשוי עשוי, "what is done, is done a"; and is not to be undone, or done over again in another way; it stands firm and good, and not to be objected to: and the same writer observes, that this is a sort of prophecy of Pilate, and which should continue, and for ever obtain, that the Jews should have no other King Messiah than Jesus of Nazareth; nor have they had any other; all that have risen up have proved false Messiahs; nor will they have any other; nor indeed any king, until they seek the Lord their God, and David their king, Hosea 3:5 that is, the son of David, as they will do in the latter day; when they shall be converted, and when they shall own him as their king, their ancestors at this time were ashamed of.

w Apulei Florid. c. 9. x T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 96. 1. y Hilchot Ishot, c. 18. sect. 10. z T. Bab. Menachot, fol. 3. 1. a T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 106. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 27:32-37.

John 19:22

What I have written ... - This declaration implied that he would make no change. He was impatient, and weary of their solicitations. He had yielded to them contrary to the convictions of his own conscience, and he now declared his purpose to yield no further.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. What I have written, I have written. — That is, I will not alter what I have written. The Roman laws forbad the sentence to be altered when once pronounced; and as this inscription was considered as the sentence pronounced against our Lord, therefore, it could not be changed: but this form of speech is common in the Jewish writings, and means simply, what is done shall continue. Pilate seems to speak prophetically. This is the king of the Jews: they shall have no other Messiah for ever.