John 19:31

It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.

Majority Standard Bible

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

30When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.

32So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and those of the other.

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Cross References

Exodus 12:16On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.

Deuteronomy 21:22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

Joshua 10:26After this, Joshua struck down and killed the kings, and he hung their bodies on five trees and left them there until evening.

Micah 3:3You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”

Mark 15:42Now it was already evening. Since it was Preparation Day (that is, the day before the Sabbath),

John 19:14It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is 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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