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Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

John 19:22

Pilate answered, "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."
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.
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

19And Pilate also wrote a title, and put [it] on the cross, and it was written: "JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS"; 20therefore many of the Jews read this title, because the place was near to the city where Jesus was crucified, and it was having been written in Hebrew, in Greek, in Latin. 21The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, "Do not write, The King of the Jews, but that this One said, I am King of the Jews"; 22Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."23The soldiers, therefore, when they crucified Jesus, took His garments, and made four parts, to each soldier a part, also the coat, and the coat was seamless, from the top woven throughout; 24they said, therefore, to one another, "We may not tear it, but cast a lot for it, whose it will be"; that the Writing might be fulfilled, that is saying, "They divided My garments to themselves, and they cast a lot for My clothing"; the soldiers, therefore, indeed, did these things. 25And there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary of Cleopas, and Mary the Magdalene; 26Jesus, therefore, having seen [His] mother, and the disciple standing by, whom He was loving, He says to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son"; 27afterward He says to the disciple, "Behold, your mother"; and from that hour the disciple took her to his own [home]. 28After this, Jesus knowing that all things have now been accomplished, that the Writing may be fulfilled, says, "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 lifts up his eyes, and sees the whole circuit of the Jordan that it [is] all a watered country (before YHWH's destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, as YHWH's garden, as the land of Egypt), in your coming toward Zoar,
Genesis 14:2
they have made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboim, and the king of Bela, which [is] Zoar.
Genesis 19:1
And two of the messengers come toward Sodom at evening, and Lot is sitting at the gate of Sodom, and Lot sees, and rises to meet them, and bows himself—face to the earth,
Genesis 19:10
And the men put forth their hand, and bring in Lot to them, into the house, and have shut the door;
Genesis 19:25
and He overthrows these cities, and all the circuit, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which is shooting up from the ground.
Genesis 19:28
and he looks on the face of Sodom and Gomorrah, and on all the face of the land of the circuit, and sees, and behold, the smoke of the land went up as smoke of the furnace.
Exodus 32:10
and now, leave Me alone, and My anger burns against them, and I consume them, and I make you become a great nation."
Deuteronomy 9:14
Desist from Me, and I destroy them, and blot out their name from under the heavens, and I make you become a nation more mighty and numerous than it.
Isaiah 15:5
My heart [is] toward Moab, || Her fugitives cry to Zoar, a heifer of the third [year], || For—the ascent of Luhith—He goes up in it with weeping, || For in the way of Horonaim, || They wake up a cry of destruction.
Isaiah 65:8
Thus said YHWH: "As the new wine is found in the cluster, || And one has said, Do not destroy it for a blessing [is] in it, || So I do for My servants' sake, || Not to destroy the whole.

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.


 
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