Luke 23:3

3 And Pilate asked him, saying, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And he answered him [and] said, "You say [so]."

Luke 23:3 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 23:3

And Pilate asked him, saying
Observing that it was said, he had given himself out to be a king; for as for what regarded religion, he took no notice of it; he put this question to him,

art thou the King of the Jews?
that their prophecies speak of, and they have expected;

and he answered him and said, thou sayest it;
that is, thou sayest well; it is as thou sayest, I am the King of the Jews; (See Gill on Matthew 27:11) though he did not leave this without an explanation; without informing him what sort of a king he was, and what kind of a kingdom he had; see ( John 18:36 John 18:37 ) which made Pilate perfectly easy, and desirous to release him, as appears by what follows.

Luke 23:3 In-Context

1 And the whole assembly of them rose up [and] brought him before Pilate.

2 And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found this man misleading our nation and forbidding [us] to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying [he] himself is Christ, a king!"

3 And Pilate asked him, saying, "Are you the king of the Jews?" And he answered him [and] said, "You say [so]."

4 So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, "I find no basis for an accusation against this man.

5 But they insisted, saying, "He incites the people, teaching throughout the whole of Judea and beginning from Galilee as far as here."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("answered") has been translated as a finite verb