Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Pilate therefore said to him, “Aren’t you speaking to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you and have power to crucify you?”

  • TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534)

    Then sayde Pylate vnto him. Speakest thou not vnto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify the and have power to lowse the?

  • GNV Geneva Bible (1599)

    Then saide Pilate vnto him, Speakest thou not vnto me? Knowest thou not that I haue power to crucifie thee, and haue power to loose thee?

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Cross-references (3)

Passages linked to John 19:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Daniel 3:14-15 Nebuchadnezzar answered them, “Is it on purpose, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god that will deliver you out of my hands?”
  • Daniel 5:19 Because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed whom he wanted to, and he kept alive whom he wanted to. He raised up whom he wanted to, and he put down whom he wanted to.
  • John 18:39 But you have a custom, that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Therefore, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (14 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 10. Knowest thou not that I have power to…

10. Knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee? This shows that the dread with which Pilate had been suddenly seized was transitory, and had no solid root; for now, forgetting all fear, he breaks out into haughty and monstrous contempt of God. He threatens Christ, as if there had not been a Judge in heaven; but this must always happen with irreligious men, that, shaking off the fear of God, they quickly return to their natural disposition. Hence also we infer, that it is not without good reason that the heart of man is called deceitful, (Jeremiah 17:9;) for, though some fear of God dwells in it, there likewise comes from it mere impiety. Whoever, then, is not regenerated by the Spirit of God, though he pretend for a time to reverence the majesty of God, will quickly show, by opposite facts, that this fear was hypocritical.

Again, we see in Pilate an image of a proud man, who is driven to madness by his ambition; for, when he wishes to exalt his power, he deprives himself of all praise and reputation for justice. He acknowledges that Christ is innocent, and therefore he makes himself no better than a robber, when he boasts that he has power to cut his throat! Thus, wicked consciences, in which faith and the true knowledge of God do not reign, must necessarily be agitated, and there must be within them various feelings of the flesh, which contend with each other; and in this manner God takes signal vengeance on the pride of men, when they go beyond their limits, so as to claim for themselves infinite power. By condemning themselves for injustice, they stamp on themselves the greatest reproach and disgrace. No blindness, therefore, is greater than that of pride; and we need not wonder, since pride feels the hand of God, against which it strikes, to be armed with vengeance. Let us therefore remember, that we ought not rashly to indulge in foolish boastings, lest we expose ourselves to ridicule; and especially that those who occupy a high rank ought to conduct themselves modestly, and not to be ashamed of being subject to God and to his laws.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 10 Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Pilate seemeth something displeased that Christ would be no…
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Observe here, 1. How offended Pilate was at Christ’s…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then saith Pilate unto him,.... Being angry with him,…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Speakest thou not ... - This is the expression…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Then saith Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not to…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Power to crucify… power to release—Roman power may…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. Then saith, &c.] Better, Pilate therefore saith to…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) Speakest thou not unto me?—The position of the…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thereforesaith Pilate to him; nettled by this silence, and…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Then said Pilate unto Him, Speakest Thou not unto…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Are you not speaking to me?
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 19:10-11 You would have no power over me: Although…

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