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39 [a](A)Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads 40 (B)and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, [and] come down from the cross!” 41 Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel![b] Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. 43 [c](C)He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

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Footnotes

  1. 27:39–40 Reviled him…heads: cf. Ps 22:8. You who would destroy…three days; cf. Mt 26:61. If you are the Son of God: the same words as those of the devil in the temptation of Jesus; cf. Mt 4:3, 6.
  2. 27:42 King of Israel: in their mocking of Jesus the members of the Sanhedrin call themselves and their people not “the Jews” but Israel.
  3. 27:43 Peculiar to Matthew. He trusted in God…wants him: cf. Ps 22:9. He said…of God: probably an allusion to Wis 2:12–20 where the theme of the suffering Just One appears.

39 Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads(A) 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days,(B) save yourself!(C) Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!”(D) 41 In the same way the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him. 42 “He saved others,” they said, “but he can’t save himself! He’s the king of Israel!(E) Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe(F) in him. 43 He trusts in God. Let God rescue him(G) now if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”

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