Along the way they found a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
Parallel translations
- WEB As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross.
- KJV And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
- NKJV Now as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. Him they compelled to bear His cross.
- NASB As they were coming out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon, whom they compelled to carry His cross.
- NLT Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross.
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
The soldiers compel Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus' cross. A bystander is pressed into helping the exhausted Savior.
Overview
On the way out, the soldiers force a passerby, Simon from Cyrene, to bear the crossbeam, likely because the scourged Jesus was too weakened to carry it far. The detail attests Jesus' real physical suffering and grounds the account in history. Simon's involuntary service pictures the call to every disciple to take up the cross and follow Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Mark 15:21Now Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry the cross of Jesus.
- Luke 23:26As the soldiers led Him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.
- Matt 16:24Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- Acts 2:10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome,
- Acts 6:9But resistance arose from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and men from the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen,
- Acts 13:1Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.
- Acts 11:20But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks as well, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.
- John 19:17Carrying His own cross, He went out to The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
- 1 Kgs 21:13And the two scoundrels came in and sat opposite Naboth, and these men testified against him before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
- Lev 4:12all the rest of the bull—he must take outside the camp to a ceremonially clean place where the ashes are poured out, and there he must burn it on a wood fire on the ash heap.
- Heb 13:11–12Although the high priest brings the blood of animals into the Holy Place as a sacrifice for sin, the bodies are burned outside the camp.
- 1 Kgs 21:10But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
- Lev 4:21Then he is to take the bull outside the camp and burn it, just as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.
- Num 15:35–36And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.”
- Lev 4:3If the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he must bring to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
- Acts 7:58They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 27:32 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
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