Bible Strands
Matthew 27:24
When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Pilate addresses the shouting crowd during a breaking riot, immediately after they demand crucifixion and after he has asked what evil Jesus has committed.
The words — οὐδὲν (ouden) = no thing; ὠφελεῖ (ōphelei) = it availed, describing Pilate’s observation that his judicial efforts produced zero result.
The thread — The gesture and phrase mirror Judas’s dismissal of responsibility in Matthew 27:4, contrast with ritual handwashing for innocence in Psalm 26:6, and point toward Christ bearing sin so believers might become righteousness in 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Why it lands — The text records Pilate shifting legal blame onto a crowd that explicitly accepts it, forcing the reader to confront the mechanics of transferred guilt and the reality of bearing another’s blood.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Matthew 27:4 “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”
- Psalms 26:6 I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Deuteronomy 21:6 Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands by the stream over the heifer whose neck has been broken,
- Job 9:30 If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
- Matthew 26:5 “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
- John 19:4 Once again Pilate came out and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing Him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.”
- 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- Jeremiah 2:27 say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
- Jeremiah 2:35 you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’