Matthew 27:21

21 "Which of the two do you want me to set free for you?" asked the governor. "Bar-Abba!" they answered.

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 in court, his wife sent him a message, "Leave that innocent man alone. Today in a dream I suffered terribly because of him."

20 But the head cohanim persuaded the crowd to ask for Bar-Abba's release and to have Yeshua executed on the stake.

21 "Which of the two do you want me to set free for you?" asked the governor. "Bar-Abba!" they answered.

22 Pilate said to them, "Then what should I do with Yeshua, called `the Messiah'?" They all said, "Put him to death on the stake! Put him to death on the stake!"

23 When he asked, "Why? What crime has he committed?" they shouted all the louder, "Put him to death on the stake!"