John 19:31

Then the Jews, because it was the preparation day, so that the bodies would not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), they petitioned Pilate in order that their legs might be broken, and they might be taken away.

Catholic Public Domain Version

In The King James Version

The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

In Context

30Then Jesus, when he had received the vinegar, said: “It is consummated.” And bowing down his head, he surrendered his spirit.

32Therefore, the soldiers approached, and, indeed, they broke the legs of the first one, and of the other who was crucified with him.

Read all of John 19

Cross References

Exodus 12:16The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be venerated with the same festivity. You shall do no work in these days, except that which pertains to the eating.

Deuteronomy 21:22When a man will have sinned in a matter which is punished by death, and, having been judged unto death, he has been hanged on a gallows:

Joshua 10:26And Joshua struck them down and killed them, and he suspended them on five gallows. And they hung there until evening.

Micah 3:3They have devoured the flesh of my people, and have stripped their skin from over them, and they have shattered and chopped their bones, as if for the kettle, and like flesh in the middle of the pot.

Mark 15:42And when evening had now arrived (because it was the Preparation Day, which is before the Sabbath)

John 19:14Now it was the preparation day of the Passover, about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold your king.”

Matthew Henry on John 19:20-31

The Inscription on the Cross; The Crucifixion. 19 And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. 20 This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. 21 Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. 22 Pilate answered, What I have written I have written. 23 Then the… Read the whole commentary →

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