Mark 15:8

8 And the crowd came up [and] began to ask him to do as he customarily did for them.

Mark 15:8 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 15:8

And the multitude crying aloud
The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions read, and when the "multitude", or "people went up", to the place called the pavement, where the judgment seat was; and so it is read in Beza's most ancient copy; but the former reading is to be preferred:

began to desire [him to do] as he had ever done to them:
that is, release a prisoner to them, as he had done at every passover, since he had been a governor over them.

Mark 15:8 In-Context

6 Now at each feast he customarily released for them one prisoner whom they requested.

7 And the one named Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the rebellion.

8 And the crowd came up [and] began to ask him to do as he customarily did for them.

9 So Pilate answered them, saying, "Do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?"

10 (For he realized that the chief priests had handed him over because of envy.)

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("came up") has been translated as a finite verb
• [b]. The imperfect tense has been translated as customary here ("customarily did")