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The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Ha! Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days.
Mark 15:29 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,
  • KJV And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
  • BSB And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
  • NKJV And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,
  • NASB Those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, shaking their heads and saying, “Ha! You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,

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

Passersby hurl insults, mocking Jesus' words about destroying and rebuilding the temple. They jeer at the very claim now being fulfilled.

Overview

The crowd's head-wagging derision echoes Psalm 22:7, where the righteous sufferer is scorned. They throw back at Jesus the temple saying twisted at his trial (Mark 14:58). Ironically, in his death and resurrection Jesus would indeed raise up the true temple, his own body, granting access to God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Mark 14:58“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”
  • Ps 109:25I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.
  • Lam 1:12“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which Yahweh has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
  • Lam 2:15All that pass by clap their hands at you. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, “Is this the city that men called ‘The perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”
  • John 2:18–22The Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?”
  • Ps 69:26For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
  • Ps 22:7–8All those who see me mock me. They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
  • Ps 35:15–21But in my adversity, they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The attackers gathered themselves together against me, and I didn’t know it. They tore at me, and didn’t cease.
  • Ps 69:19–20You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before you.
  • Gen 37:19–20They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes.
  • Ps 22:12–14Many bulls have surrounded me. Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.
  • Matt 27:39–40Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
  • Matt 26:61and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.’”
  • Ps 69:7Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Mark videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Mark 15:29YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MarkMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'

How Mark 15:29 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.