Matthew 27:21

21 So when the Governor a second time asked them, "Which of the two shall I release to you?" --they cried, "Barabbas!"

Matthew 27:21 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 27:21

The governor answered and said unto them
A second time, after some time had been allowed and taken up to consider of the matter, and which the chief priests and elders improved among the people against Jesus.

Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?
for as these two were proposed, one of them must be released; and it lay in the breast of the people to choose which they would:

they said, Barabbas;
so that Christ was not only numbered among, and reckoned with transgressors, but he was accounted worse than the worst of them; a seditious person, a robber, and a murderer was preferred before him: see ( Acts 3:14 ) .

Matthew 27:21 In-Context

19 While he was sitting on the tribunal a message came to him from his wife. "Have nothing to do with that innocent man," she said, "for during the night I have suffered terribly in a dream through him."

20 The High Priests, however, and the Elders urged the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to demand the death of Jesus.

21 So when the Governor a second time asked them, "Which of the two shall I release to you?" --they cried, "Barabbas!"

22 "What then," said Pilate, "shall I do with Jesus, the so-called Christ?" With one voice they shouted, "Let him be crucified!"

23 "Why, what crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But they kept on furiously shouting, "Let him be crucified!"