John 19:17

17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).

John 19:17 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
17 And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:
English Standard Version (ESV)
17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
New Living Translation (NLT)
17 Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, ).
The Message Bible (MSG)
17 Carrying his cross, Jesus went out to the place called Skull Hill (the name in Hebrew is Golgotha),
American Standard Version (ASV)
17 They took Jesus therefore: and he went out, bearing the cross for himself, unto the place called The place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha:
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
17 He carried his own cross and went out [of the city] to a location called The Skull. (In Hebrew this place is called Golgotha.)
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
17 Carrying His own cross, He went out to what is called Skull Place, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
17 He had to carry his own cross. He went out to a place called The Skull. In the Aramaic language it was called Golgotha.

John 19:17 Meaning and Commentary

John 19:17

And he bearing his cross
Which was usual for malefactors to do, as Lipsius F9 shows out of Artemidorus, and Plutarch; the former says,

``the cross is like to death, and he that is to be fixed to it, first bears it;''

and the latter says,

``and everyone of the malefactors that are punished in body, "carries out his own cross".''

So Christ, when he first went out to be crucified, carried his cross himself, until the Jews, meeting with Simon the Cyrenian, obliged him to bear it after him; that is, one part of it; for still Christ continued to bear a part himself: of this Isaac was a type, in carrying the wood on his shoulders for the burnt offering; and this showed that Christ was made sin, and a curse for us, and that our sins, and the punishment which belonged to us, were laid on him, and bore by him; and in this he has left us an example to go forth without the camp, bearing his reproach:

went forth in a place called the place of a skull, which is called
in the Hebrew, Golgotha:
and signifies a man's skull: it seems, that as they executed malefactors here, so they buried them here; and in process of time, their bones being dug up to make room for others, their skulls, with other bones, lay up and down in this place; from whence it had its name in the Syriac dialect, which the Jews then usually spake: here some say Adam's skull was found, and that it had its name from thence. This was an ancient tradition, as has been observed in the notes on (See Gill on Matthew 27:33), and (See Gill on Luke 23:33) the Syriac writers have it F11, who say,

``when Noah went out of the ark there was made a distribution of the bones of Adam; to Shem, his head was given, and the place in which he was buried is called "Karkaphta": where likewise Christ was crucified;''

which word signifies a skull, as Golgotha does: and so likewise the Arabic writers F12; who affirm that Shem said these words to Melchizedek,

``Noah commanded that thou shouldst take the body of Adam, and bury it in the middle of the earth; therefore let us go, I and thou, and bury it; wherefore Shem and Melchizedek went to take the body of Adam, and the angel of the Lord appeared to them and went before them, till they came to the place Calvary, where they buried him, as the angel of the Lord commanded them:''

the same also had the ancient fathers of the Christian church; Cyprian F13 says, that it is a tradition of the ancients, that Adam was buried in Calvary under the place where the cross of Christ was fixed; and Jerom makes mention of it more than once; so Paula and Eustochium, in an epistle supposed to be dictated by him, or in which he was assisting, say F14, in this city, meaning Jerusalem, yea in this place, Adam is said to dwell, and to die; from whence the place where our Lord was crucified is called Calvary, because there the skull of the ancient man was buried: and in another place he himself says F15, that he heard one disputing in the church and explaining, ( Ephesians 5:14 ) of Adam buried in Calvary, where the Lord was crucified, and therefore was so called. Ambrose F16 also takes notice of it; the place of the cross, says he, is either in the midst of the land, that it might be conspicuous to all, or over the grave of Adam, as the Hebrews dispute: others say that the hill itself was in the form of a man's skull, and therefore was so called; it was situated, as Jerom says F17, on the north of Mount Zion, and is thought by some to be the same with the hill Gareb, in ( Jeremiah 31:39 ) . It was usual to crucify on high hills, so Polycrates was crucified upon the highest top of Mount Mycale F18.


FOOTNOTES:

F9 De Cruce, l. 2. c. 5. p. 76.
F11 Bar Bahluli apud Castel. Lexic. Polyglot. col. 3466.
F12 Elmacinus, p. 13. Patricides, p. 12. apud Hottinger. Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 8. p. 257.
F13 De Resurrectione Christi, p. 479.
F14 Epist. Marcellae, fol. 42. L. Tom. I.
F15 Comment. in Eph. v. 14.
F16 Comment. in Luc. xx. 33.
F17 De locis Hebraicis, fol. 92. F.
F18 Valer. Maxim. l. 6. c. ult.

John 19:17 In-Context

15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
16 Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. So the soldiers took charge of Jesus.
17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).
18 There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.
19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Genesis 22:6; Luke 14:27; Luke 23:26
  • 2. Luke 23:33
  • 3. S John 5:2
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