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He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
Matthew 27:43 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
  • KJV He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
  • NKJV He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
  • NASB He has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
  • NLT He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

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

They mock Jesus' trust in God, daring God to deliver Him as His Son. Their scorn echoes Psalm 22 almost word for word.

Overview

The leaders sneer at Jesus' confidence in God, challenging God to rescue His professed Son. Their taunt unwittingly quotes Psalm 22, marking Jesus as the very righteous sufferer that psalm describes. Far from disproving His sonship, the cross is the place where the faithful Son entrusts Himself to the Father even in forsakenness.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Ps 22:8“He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.”
  • John 10:36then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God?
  • Ps 71:11saying, “God has forsaken him; pursue him and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
  • Ps 3:2Many say of me, “God will not deliver him.” Selah
  • John 19:7“We have a law,” answered the Jews, “and according to that law He must die, because He declared Himself to be the Son of God.”
  • John 3:16–17For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
  • Isa 37:10“Give this message to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying that Jerusalem will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
  • John 5:17–25But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.”
  • Ps 14:6You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed, yet the LORD is their shelter.
  • Matt 27:40and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
  • Ps 42:10Like the crushing of my bones, my enemies taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
  • Isa 36:15Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
  • John 10:30I and the Father are one.”
  • Isa 36:18Do not let Hezekiah mislead you when he says, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’ Has the god of any nation ever delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (7)

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 27:43YouTube · 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 27:43 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.