Section LI.

[1] [Arabic, p. 192] ³⁵³³John xix. 13.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. ³⁵³⁴John xix. 14.And that day was the Friday of the passover: and it had reached [3] about the sixth hour.³⁵³⁵Lit. six hours. ³⁵³⁶John xix. 15.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. ³⁵³⁷Matt. xxvii. 24.And Pilate, when he saw it, and³⁵³⁸Or, that. 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.³⁵³⁹cf. Peshitta. Or, Ye know (cf. Sinaitic). ³⁵⁴⁰Matt. xxvii. 25.And all the people [6] answered and said, His blood be on us, and on our children. ³⁵⁴¹John xix. 16a.Then Pilate commanded to grant them their request; and delivered up Jesus to be crucified, according to their wish.

[7] ³⁵⁴²Matt. xxvii. 3.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, ³⁵⁴³Matt. xxvii. 4.and said, I have sinned in my betraying innocent blood. And they said unto him, And we, what must we do? [9] know thou. ³⁵⁴⁴Matt. xxvii. 5.And he threw down the money in the temple, and departed; and he [10] went away³⁵⁴⁵Borg. ms. omits and he went away. and hanged³⁵⁴⁶Lit. strangled. himself. ³⁵⁴⁷Matt. xxvii. 6.And the chief priests took the money, and said, We have not authority to cast it into the place of the offering,³⁵⁴⁸cf. § 32, 15, note. for it is the price [11] of blood. ³⁵⁴⁹Matt. xxvii. 7.And they took counsel, and bought with it the plain of the potter, for [12] the burial of strangers. ³⁵⁵⁰Matt. xxvii. 8.Therefore that plain was called, The field of blood, unto [13] [Arabic, p. 193] this day. ³⁵⁵¹Matt. xxvii. 9.Therein³⁵⁵²Or, at that (time). 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; ³⁵⁵³Matt. xxvii. 10.and I paid them for the plain of the potter, as the Lord commanded me.

[15] ³⁵⁵⁴John xix. 16b; Mark xv. 20b.And the Jews took Jesus, and went away to crucify him. ³⁵⁵⁵John xix. 17a; Matt. xxvii. 31b.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. ³⁵⁵⁶Matt. xxvii. 32a; Mark xv. 21b.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: ³⁵⁵⁷Matt. xxvii. 32b.and they compelled this man to bear the cross of Jesus. [18] ³⁵⁵⁸Luke xxiii. 26b.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] ³⁵⁵⁹Luke xxiii. 27.And there followed him much people, and women which were lamenting and [20] raving.³⁵⁶⁰Lit. being burned. The text is probably corrupt. ³⁵⁶¹Luke xxiii. 28.But Jesus turned unto them and said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not [21] for me: weep for yourselves, and for your children. ³⁵⁶²Luke xxiii. 29.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. ³⁵⁶³Luke xxiii. 30.Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and [23] to the hills, Cover us. ³⁵⁶⁴Luke xxiii. 31.For if they do so in the green tree,³⁵⁶⁵Lit. wood (cf. Syr. and Greek). what shall be in the dry?

[24] ³⁵⁶⁶Luke xxiii. 32.And they brought with Jesus two others of the malefactors,³⁵⁶⁷Or, others, malefactors. to be put to death.

[25] ³⁵⁶⁸Luke xxiii. 33a; John xix. 17c.And when they came unto a certain place called The skull, and called in the Hebrew Golgotha, they crucified him there: ³⁵⁶⁹Luke xxiii. 33b.they crucified with him these two [26] malefactors, one on his right, and the other on his left. ³⁵⁷⁰Mark xv. 28.And the scripture was [27] [Arabic, p. 194] fulfilled, which saith, He was numbered with the transgressors. ³⁵⁷¹Mark xv. 23a.And they gave him to drink wine and myrrh, and vinegar which had been mixed with the myrrh; ³⁵⁷²Matt. xxvii. 34b; Mark xv. 23b.and he tasted, and would not drink; and he received it not.

[28] ³⁵⁷³John xix. 23.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. ³⁵⁷⁴John xix. 24.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] ³⁵⁷⁵Matt. xxvii. 36.This the soldiers did. And they sat and guarded him there. ³⁵⁷⁶John xix. 19.And Pilate wrote on a tablet the cause of his death, and put it on the wood of the cross above his head.³⁵⁷⁷Matt. xxvii. 37. And there was written upon it thus: This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the [32] Jews. ³⁵⁷⁸John xix. 20.And this tablet³⁵⁷⁹A different word from that in the preceding verse; in each case, the word used in the Peshitta (Cur. and Sin. lacking). 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] ³⁵⁸⁰John xix. 21.And the chief priests said unto Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but, He it is [34] that³⁵⁸¹The 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. said, I am the King of the Jews. ³⁵⁸²John xix. 22.Pilate said unto them, What hath been [35] written hath been written.³⁵⁸³In 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). ³⁵⁸⁴Luke xxiii. 35a; Matt. xxvii. 39.And the people were standing beholding; and they [36] that passed by were reviling³⁵⁸⁵cf. § 7, 17, note. Borg. ms. has jesting at. him, and shaking³⁵⁸⁶The 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). their heads, and saying, ³⁵⁸⁷Matt. xxvii. 40a; Mark xv. 29.Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, ³⁵⁸⁸Matt. xxvii. 40c.save thyself if thou art the Son [37] of God, and come down from the cross. ³⁵⁸⁹Matt. xxvii. 41.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, ³⁵⁹⁰Matt. xxvii. 42a.The saviour of others cannot save himself. ³⁵⁹¹Luke xxiii. 35c; Matt. xxvii. 42c.If he is the Messiah, the chosen of God, and the King of Israel,³⁵⁹²Verse 37 or Mt. let him come down now from the [40] cross, that we may see, and believe in him. ³⁵⁹³Matt. xxvii. 43.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. ³⁵⁹⁴Luke xxiii. 36.And the soldiers [42] also scoffed at him in that they came near unto him, ³⁵⁹⁵Luke xxiii. 37.and brought him vinegar, and [43] said unto him, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself. ³⁵⁹⁶Matt. xxvii. 44.And likewise the two robbers³⁵⁹⁷Borg. ms. has boys (an easy clerical error). also that were crucified with him reproached him.

[44] ³⁵⁹⁸Luke xxiii. 39.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. ³⁵⁹⁹Luke xxiii. 40.But his comrade rebuked him, and said, Dost thou not even fear God, being thyself also in this [46] condemnation? ³⁶⁰⁰Luke xxiii. 41.And we with justice, and as we deserved, and according to our deed,³⁶⁰¹Our deed might be read we have done, and perhaps our translator’s style would justify our writing as for to. have we been rewarded: but this man hath not done anything unlawful. [47] ³⁶⁰²Luke xxiii. 42.And he said unto Jesus, Remember me, my Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom. [48] ³⁶⁰³Luke xxiii. 43.Jesus said unto him, Verily³⁶⁰⁴Borg. ms. has Verily, verily. I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.

[49] ³⁶⁰⁵John xix. 25.And there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister,³⁶⁰⁶A single word in Arabic. [50] Mary³⁶⁰⁷Vat. ms. has and Mary. that was related to Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ³⁶⁰⁸John xix. 26.And Jesus saw his mother, and that disciple whom he loved standing by; and he said to his mother, [51] Woman, behold, thy son! ³⁶⁰⁹John xix. 27.And he said to that disciple, Behold, thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto himself.

[52] [Arabic, p. 196] ³⁶¹⁰Matt. xxvii. 45a; Luke xxiii. 44b.And from the sixth hour³⁶¹¹Lit six hours and nine hours respectively. darkness was on all the land unto the ninth [53] hour,³⁶¹²Lit six hours and nine hours respectively. and the sun became dark. ³⁶¹³Luke xxiii. 45a; Mark xv. 34.And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and said, Yail, Yaili,³⁶¹⁴In Vat. ms. the second word is like the first. The syllable Ya doubtless is the Arabic interjection O! why hast thou forsaken me? which³⁶¹⁵The Borg. ms. omits from which to me. is, My [54] God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? ³⁶¹⁶Matt. xxvii. 47.And some of those that stood there, when they heard, said,³⁶¹⁷Borg. ms. omits when they, and has and said. This man called Elijah.