Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

International Standard Version

John 19:22

Pilate replied, "What I have written I have written."

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Character;   Death;   Indictments;   Jesus, the Christ;   Thompson Chain Reference - Pilate, Pontius;   Pontius Pilate;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Persecution;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Christianity;   Humiliation of Christ;   Jesus Christ;   Holman Bible Dictionary - John, the Gospel of;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for March 5;  

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."
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.
English Revised Version
Pilate answered, What I have written I have 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 Pilate wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, "Jesus from Nazareth,Jesus the Nazarene; the Gk. Nazoraios may be a word play between Heb. netser, meaning branch (see Isaiah 11:1), and the name">[fn] the King of the Jews."Matthew 27:37; Mark 15:26; Luke 23:38;">[xr] 20 Many Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 21 Then the Jewish high priests told Pilate, "Don't write, 'The King of the Jews,' but that this fellow said, 'I am the King of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate replied, "What I have written I have written." 23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and took his cloakand his tunic">[fn] as well. The cloak was seamless, woven in one piece from the top down.Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:34;">[xr] 24 So they said to each other, "Let's not tear it. Instead, let's throw dice to see who gets it." This was to fulfill the Scripture that says,Psalm 22:18;">[xr] "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they threw dice."Psalm 22:18">[fn] So that is what the soldiers did. 25 Meanwhile, standing near Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.Matthew 27:55; Mark 15:40; Luke 23:49; 24:18;">[xr] 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he kept loving standing there, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son."John 2:4; 13:23; 20:2;">[xr] 27 Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.John 1:11; 16:32;">[xr] 28 After this, when Jesus realized that everything was now completed, he said (in order to fulfill the Scripture), "I'm thirsty."Psalm 69:21;">[xr]

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

Mark 6:5
He couldn't perform a miracle there except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.Genesis 19:22; 32:25; Matthew 13:58; Mark 9:23;">[xr]
2 Timothy 2:13
Our faith may fail, his never wanesNumbers 23:19; Romans 3:3; 9:6;">[xr] - For thus he is, he cannot change!he cannot deny himself">[fn]
Titus 1:2
which is based on the hope of eternal life that God, who cannot lie, promised before the worldthe ages">[fn] began.Numbers 23:19; Romans 16:25; 1 Timothy 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:1,9; Titus 3:7; 1 Peter 1:20;">[xr]

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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile