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And those passing by were speaking abusively to Him, shaking their heads,
Matthew 27:39 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads,
  • KJV And they that passed by reviled 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
  • 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 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.
  • Ps 22:17I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me.
  • Ps 69:20Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
  • Lam 2:15–17All 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’?”
  • 1 Pet 2:22–24who did not sin, “neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
  • Ps 22:6–7But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
  • 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.
  • Luke 23:35–39The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”
  • Ps 109:2for they have opened the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit against me. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue.
  • Ps 31:11–13Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.
  • Mark 15:29–30Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,
  • Job 16:4I also could speak as you do. If your soul were in my soul’s place, I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you,
  • Ps 69:7–12Because for your sake, I have borne reproach. Shame has covered my face.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Matthew videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Matthew 27:39YouTube · 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 MatthewMatthew 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

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

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.