Matthew 27:21

21 and the governor answering said to them, `Which of the two will ye [that] I shall release to you?' And they said, `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 And as he is sitting on the tribunal, his wife sent unto him, saying, `Nothing -- to thee and to that righteous one, for many things did I suffer to-day in a dream because of him.'

20 And the chief priests and the elders did persuade the multitudes that they might ask for themselves Barabbas, and might destroy Jesus;

21 and the governor answering said to them, `Which of the two will ye [that] I shall release to you?' And they said, `Barabbas.'

22 Pilate saith to them, `What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' They all say to him, `Let be crucified!'

23 And the governor said, `Why, what evil did he?' and they were crying out the more, saying, `Let be crucified.'