Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
- KJV Pilate answered, What I have written I have written.
- BSB Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
- NKJV Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
- NLT Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Pilate refuses to change the inscription: 'What I have written, I have written.' His stubbornness preserves a true confession of Jesus' kingship.
Overview
Having yielded on the verdict, Pilate now holds firm on the wording, perhaps out of spite toward the leaders. His fixed declaration ironically guards the truth that Jesus is King. In God's providence, even a vacillating governor's obstinacy serves to publish the kingship of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 76:10Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained.
- Prov 8:29when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;
- Ps 65:7who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
- John 19:12At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you release this man, you aren’t Caesar’s friend! Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar!”
- Esth 4:16“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
- Gen 43:14May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 19:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.