And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
- BSB And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
- NKJV And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads
- NASB And those passing by were speaking abusively to Him, shaking their heads,
- NLT The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery.
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 at Jesus, shaking their heads in scorn. He is mocked even as He dies.
Overview
Those going by revile the crucified Jesus with derision and head-wagging contempt. Their mockery echoes Psalm 22, where the sufferer is scorned by onlookers who shake their heads. The taunts add emotional anguish to physical agony, all of which Jesus bears in obedient love for those who will believe.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 109:25I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
- Lam 1:12Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.
- Ps 22:17I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
- Ps 69:20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
- Lam 2:15–17All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
- 1 Pet 2:22–24Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
- Ps 22:6–7But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
- Ps 35:15–21But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
- Luke 23:35–39And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
- Ps 109:2For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
- Ps 31:11–13I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.
- Mark 15:29–30And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days,
- Job 16:4I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul’s stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you.
- Ps 69:7–12Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 27:39 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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