Matthew Chapter 27 verse 24 Holy Bible

ASV Matthew 27:24

So when Pilate saw that he prevailed nothing, but rather that a tumult was arising, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man; see ye `to it'.
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BBE Matthew 27:24

So when Pilate saw that he was able to do nothing, but that trouble was working up, he took water and, washing his hands before the people, said, The blood of this upright man is not on my hands: you are responsible.
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DARBY Matthew 27:24

And Pilate, seeing that it availed nothing, but that rather a tumult was arising, having taken water, washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am guiltless of the blood of this righteous one: see *ye* [to it].
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KJV Matthew 27:24

When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
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WBT Matthew 27:24


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WEB Matthew 27:24

So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it."
read chapter 27 in WEB

YLT Matthew 27:24

And Pilate having seen that it profiteth nothing, but rather a tumult is made, having taken water, he did wash the hands before the multitude, saying, `I am innocent from the blood of this righteous one; ye -- ye shall see;'
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 24. - He could prevail nothing (οὐδὲν, ὠφελεῖ, he prevailed nothing). Naught that he did altered the determination of the multitude. But that rather a tumult was made (γίνεται, is arising). The present tense gives a graphic touch to the narrative. The delay and hesitation of the governor exasperated the people, and there were ominous signs of a riot, which must be suppressed at any sacrifice of principle or equity. He feared that a report might reach Rome of his having occasioned dangerous excitement at the Passover by refusing to punish a pretender to the Jewish throne, he submits to the popular will, but endeavours to save himself from the guilt of an accomplice in a most atrocious murder. Took water, and washed his hands before the multitude. This symbolical action would appeal to the Jewish sentiment, as it was a mode of asserting innocence prescribed in the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 21:6; Psalm 26:6). Pilate thus publicly, in the sight of all the multitude who might not have been able to hear his words, attested his opinion of the innocence of Christ, and weakly cast the guilt upon the people, as if the administration of justice lay with them and not with him. Such lustrations were not exclusively Jewish, but were practised both among Greeks and Romans in expiation of guilt (see Wetstein, ad loc.; and Kuinoel, ad cap. 3:6). I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. Some manuscripts, followed by Alford, Tischendorf, and Westcott and Hort, omit "just Person (δικαίου)." If the word is genuine, it must be regarded as an echo of the wife's message to Pilate (ver. 19). The cowardly governor thus shakes off the responsibility of the perversion of justice which he allows. See ye to it (ὑμεῖς ὄψεσθε, vos videritis, as ver. 4). You will take all the responsibility of the act; the blame will not be mine. Vain hope! Pilate may wash his hands, he cannot purify heart or conscience from the stain of this foul murder. As long as the Church lasts so long will the Creed announce that Jesus "suffered under Pontius Pilate."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(24) He took water, and washed his hands.--The act belonged to an obvious and almost universal symbolism. So in Deuteronomy 21:6 the elders of a city in which an undiscovered murder had been committed were to wash their hands over the sin-offering, and to say, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it." (Comp. also Psalm 26:6.) Pilate probably chose it, partly as a relief to his own conscience, partly to appease his wife's scruples, partly as a last appeal of the most vivid and dramatic kind to the feelings of the priests and people. One of the popular poets of his own time and country might have taught him the nullity of such a formal ablution--"Ah nimium faciles, qui tristia crimina caedisFluminea tolli posse putetis aqua.""Too easy souls who dream the crystal floodCan wash away the fearful guilt of blood."Ovid, Fast. ii. 45.